Star Trek: The Seven Sisters
by Unico Publishing
Summary: The story revolves around the crews of The Tiberius which is a old Consolation class ship that is owned by its independent crew. Its skeleton crew of random species ply their skills running cargo and passengers for a fee, not all their jobs are strictly legal, but work is work. To supplement their funds, they are even known to do the odd bounty hunter job.
1. S1 EP1 'FRONTIER MEDICINE'

Girha Nesh had been out of the Betazoid Public Heath Academy for only six weeks. She wasn't top of her class but still, she could have had her picks of assignments. Her Mother had pressed for her to join the Federation fleet, but her Father begged for her to get a local position in their home city.

But Girha had always been inquisitive and yearned for something a little more off the beaten trail. She had spent her whole life on Betazed and never travelled 'off world'.

Now she had her chance. Much to her parent's grief she had applied for a job aboard a freighter stationed in a star system known locally as The Seven Sisters. Her Mother said that joining the Federation would allow her to see the universe much more than some privately run ship in a god forsaken part of the Alpha Quadrant located around the back end of Federation territory. But for Girha she had fallen in love with the idea of the Seven Sisters. A long-forgotten part of space with a wealth of races.

It had been a three-week journey so far and it had been spread over three transport vessels since no one flew direct to her new home. She was only hours away from her rendezvous with an old Federation ship now in private hands. Her new employer. She sat in her cabin watching a video documentary about the Seven Sisters for what felt like the eighth time. It was shot and recorded by an adventurer from the home planet as he roughed it around the Sisters taking in all its cultures. It was a level of adventure she had always dreamed of, to be out on her own surrounded by new experiences. The Narrator on the documentary began his section regarding the history of the Sisters.

 _"Taking its name from the twenty planets of which seven are habited, shared over the three solar systems, the Seven Sisters is stretched out along the border of Federation Space. The three main races of The Mau, The Direnosian and The Berlenghast each have a prime planet from which they have evolved. All three have protocols that stop none indigenise species form settling on their home planets but are more giving on their settlement planets."_

The other four planets were what Girha looked forward to seeing most. Each would be a micro environment of varied species from across the Alpha Quadrant and all left to govern themselves.

 _"Even though the economy within this system is tougher nowadays, back only a centaury years ago the Sisters was a rich and up and coming system due to its extensive Dilithium crystal mines on each home planet. It was once even an option for each race to join the Federation."_

It was the next part of the Documentary that would give the new doctor her only concerns about moving here.

"It was in that last hundred years when the fortunes changed within the Sisters with some would say, unfair trade embargos from the Federation after the Dilithium Consortiums refusing to cease trading with both the Klingon and Romulain Empires. This had a terrible effect on the system but did bring the three races closer together in defiance. Then of course came the natural disaster that almost wiped the planet Mau T'prek off the map..."

Things were tuff in the Seven Sisters if you belonged to a race that was in the Federation. There had been stories of public beatings by locals and murders. Of course, that was a long time ago and hopefully the stories where more scare tactics by media as opposed to the total truth. The show then moved into a segment regarding the Mau T'Prek disaster but it was interrupted by the ping of the intercom in her room. It was the passenger ship's AI letting everyone know they were to get ready to leave.

"Attention all passengers we are one hour away from the Direnos IV station and will dock thereafter for all of your adjoining transport"

Fifty minutes later and Girha was ready and waiting at the airlock. Out of the window she saw the colony planet beneath her and the space station coming up quickly for them to dock. Within no time there was a shunt and a click as they attached. By this point all the other passengers had joined her but everyone was relatively quiet. The hiss of the atmospheres levelling out filled her ears as the ten-foot airlock doors opened to show the inside of the massive station. In front of her was hundreds of aliens all scurrying about looking for their connecting flights or on station entertainments. She lugged her bags off the ship and checked the details she had been sent. She was to meet her new ship, The Tiberius at Gate 87.

She couldn't help but smile.


	2. S1 EP2 'GUARENTEE'

He couldn't believe what he was reading on the Datapad. John slumped against the wall of his quarters and slid down onto the floor letting out a desperate sigh in the process, the news had knocked the wind out of his stomach. He worked up the courage to look again at the rest of the text from the medical institute on Berlini Prime and skipped to the end conclusion;

 ** _Gurlam Disease found positive within system. No known cure for Human species. Life expectancy is twelve to eighteen months_**

The beep of the intercom shook him out of the daze he found himself in.

"Captain the cargo is ready and our guests have been shown to their rooms" It was the voice of Mr Ord.

He was a Bolian crew member in charge of any passengers or cargo they took on. He was a portly and polite man with a soft tone and gentle manner, but by god he loved to gossip and knew all the latest scandal from the four corners of the Seven Sisters

"Has our new Doctor arrived?" John asked trying to keep his voice as steady as possible so not to give away the fact he was seconds away from breaking down.

"Yes, she's sat near the airlock waiting for you" came the reply

"On my way" he responded before killing the intercom

Down by the airlock Mr Ord turned from the intercom, smiled and faced the new doctor for the ship. He watched as the pretty, female Betazoid looked wide eyed at the ships robot crew lifting the last of boxes onto a grav-lift to take down to the cargo bay.

"Frightful things, aren't they?" he commented to her.

"I've didn't know these type of robots worked on starships?." She asked as she smiled at Mr Ord.

"Oh, the Federation is full of them down in their factories, working day and night. No real call for these types of things on a starship normally. But we have an unusual set up on here you could say" he smiled with a little glint in his eye.

The Captain had pulled himself together and was heading down to meet the new doctor the ship's owner, Arlox Velma had organised for the crew.

"Would you like me to search databases for any kind of alternate treatment Captain?" Tiberius 's voice crackled over the hallway speakers.

"Christ, keep it down you idiot" replied a nervous and surprised Captain as he looked about to make sure he was alone " Tiberius, I thought we had spoken about you nosing through crew documents"

There was a brief pause.

"I cannot be held responsible considering I am the ship's A.I and all data passes through my systems" came the answer with a slight smug tone.

John took a deep sigh. He promised himself he wouldn't get into a debate with his own ship again.

"Tiberius its an order okay. Or so help me God I'll have Maddox confine you to the replicator systems"

"Yes Captain" came the defeated reply.

A few minutes later and John had joined both Mr Ord and the new doctor, Girha. She turned to find him walking down the deck towards them. On the outside he beamed a warm welcoming smile but her abilities as a Batazoid let her know he was sexually attracted to her. She allowed a small grin to herself, it was nice to know she'd have options.

 _Hell, the man is quite the looker himself she thought_

"Welcome to the family..." began John "Mr Ord can you complete the delivery and let Jena know we can ship out?"

Yes, my Captain"

John indicated for her to follow him as he began to walk back down the deck.

" Now Mr Ord you've met...

"Wait, Mr?" Interrupted Girha

If the man wants to dress in a feminine manner, then who are we to judge. Besides as a Betazoid I thought you would have known" smiled John.

She laughed nervously

"I didn't mean anything by it. Just I've not been anywhere outside of my own Planet"

"Plenty 'new and strange' out in the Sisters lady" he smiled "The name's John Iley and I'm the Captain of the Tiberius . I'll take you straight to sickbay, so you can get set up"

"That would be fine" She smiled warmly and caught him blushing slightly "Is this a Federation ship?" she asked

"Yeah, kind of. The USS Tiberius was one of the first of the Constellation Class ships. This one was hauled off to the scrap heap before we rescued it and ditched the USS par" replied the Captain.

As they walked the halls to sickbay, the Captain explained what their business is within the Seven Sister systems. He went on to tell her how they can ship cargo or passengers all over for a fee.

Finally, they reached sickbay.

"If I could ask Captain, what happened to your previous doctor?"

"Oh, he's still here"

She sensed a jokingly attitude in his answer. John opened the doors to reveal a Metroid stood waiting for them. The robot looked slightly ridiculous in its lab coat that the crew made it wear for a joke.

"Erm... this was your ship's doctor?" Girha asked.

"In a sense. Tiberius was the doctor, Nursey here was his hands you could say" He chuckled.

"Wait, Tiberius? Isn't that the ships name?"

Suddenly the ships voice came through the rooms speaker system

"You're a quick learner. Not just a pair of breasts it would seem Doctor"

John couldn't believe what he heard, he would have been happy for the ground to swallow him up at that point.

"You'll have to ignore our ship's A.I. He can be a little... well, you'll come to see" Apologised John.

Girha stood mouth open in shock. Captain Iley took the opportunity to escape.

We'll have a look about and I'll have your belongings brought to your room. Tiberius fill the new Doc in will you?" and with that he made his exit.

Moments later he was arrived on the Bridge. As he exited the turbolift up on the main view screen he could see they were at warp already. In his OPs station next to helm was Alexei Levin looking bored and spinning in his seat. At the helm was a Metroid they had nicknamed Jena. Even though Tiberius had a presence in every main and subsystem he couldn't give his total attention all at once. Luckily due to the deal with Maddox they had twenty of these Federation bots to maintain many of the stations around the ship. And of course, this meant that they could take on minimal crew in other areas which Arlox was very happy as it kept more money in her pocket.

"So?" asked Alexei without even looking up "Will you attempt to wine and dine this good doctor?"

John smiled back as he took his seat in the Captain's chair.

It was at this point he notice Alexei's teenage daughter sat leaning against the main viewscreen. She was playing a palm-held holo game and was paying no attention to anyone while looking to be in a world of her own. John noticed she was wearing her other dad's jumper again. He looked at Alexei who give a tired smile and a small nod. John knew that when she wore Alexei's dead husbands tops she was having one of her 'black dog days' as she called it in relation to her depression

"Hey kid, what are you playing?" he asked aloud but she just ignored him.

The intercom bleeped and was followed by Arlox's voice.

"John can you come to my office right away."

"On my way, boss" and with that the Captain stepped into the ready room located just off the Bridge.

Sat at her desk was Arlox Velma the ships owner and the woman who did all the legal and not so legal deals for the crew. She was a tiny but fierce Ferengi female who was determined to cut her own business empire within the Sisters.

"Take a seat John" she motioned to the seat opposite her desk.

"We're underway Boss. We should be only 8 hours from En Ghast III. Speaking of which any chance you are going to tell us co-ordinates we should park up in orbit?"

Arlox passed over a datapad showing what he needed.

"That's a little close to the little Cardassian military base, isn't it?" he asked.

"The client is paying triple to be beamed down next to there so as you can imagine human I don't give a damn. The rest we're just dropping off at the orbital sub-station" she replied with a dismissive tone.

"You may give a damn when the Cardassian orbital defence satellites blows a hole in us." he countered.

"It'll be fine. For this much gold pressed…"

"Yeah, Yeah I get it" John interrupted "anyway who's the guy with deep pockets?"

"With that kind of money its best not to ask"

John turned to leave but just before he reached the door a thought entered his head

"We didn't have any Cardassian's on the passenger manifest" he stated.

Arlox raised an eyebrow and beckoned him to leave with a wave of her hand.

John walked back on the bridge and looked over to Alexei who was still spinning in his chair bored.

"Alexei when was the last time we checked the shields work?"

"Sorry, what?" he replied as he stopped dead.

John walked straight over to the turbolift and stepped in, before the doors closed he shouted out

"You best give the Phasers a once over as well?

Alexei spun back to his console

"Well… that's a set of orders with hair on its chest" he muttered to himself.

Minutes later John was in main Engineering. The old Constellation class refit ships had a two deck Engineering section like the later Galaxy class ships, but unlike the newer ships it was by far a smaller area to work in.

"Hello Captain" smiled Brooks.

Other than John, Alexei and Helena, Brooks was the only other human working on the Tiberius. The Captain give him a nod and a smile as he passed on his way towards the shouting coming from a Engineering duct.

"I swear to my warrior ancestors I will torch this puny ship."

The shouting was coming from inside the duct. The voice was that of lead engineer Morath Koloth, a Klingon who was solely responsible for keeping Tiberius glued together at the seams. John kicked the side of the opening.

"If you get stuck in their I'm not replicating grease to slide you out again." Joked the Captain.

What followed was the dull sound of Morath hitting his head and then what John reckoned was excessive Klingon swearing. A few seconds later and the big man pulled himself of the duct and replaced the cover.

"Why did Arlox think it was a good idea to buy a bloody federation ship. This damn thing fall apart all the time". Morath prodded John in the chest

"You know its why do you think you Federation types have such large Engineering crews

"You've been in charge of Engineering for over a year now you chubby Klingon whinge" John looked at him with deadpan expression. "And you're still moaning."

The Klingon gave a massive belly laugh and slapped John on the shoulder. The Captain laughed back trying not to give away that it felt that the engineer near enough broke his collarbone with his massive hands.

"How is everything down here anyway?" John asked as he rotated his arm to sooth the shoulder pain.

"Morath had been updating my plasma injectors, and doing a fine job of it" added Tiberius.

Morath leaned into the Captain and whispered into his ear while keeping one eye to the ceiling.

"That A.I is getting more and more creepy each day."

"For the last time it's not an AI its a highly sophisticated positronic brain which has resulted in the third only known sentient intelligence of its kind." The voice came from the second level. John and Morath looked up to see an annoyed Maddox Maddox leaning over the safety barrier scowling at them both.

"And according to Alexei one of them was a psychotic killer" counted John in an attempt to wind Maddox up.

"Any the other is a Lieutenant Commander of the Fedaratrion flagship. Your point being, Captain?" countered Maddox.

The Captain smiled after getting a rise out of hi. It's not like he disliked Maddox it was more he enjoyed denting the guys ego.

"And how is our resident Federation fugitive today?" shouted John up to Maddox.

Before he could get a snarky response, the alert alarm went on the Captains wrist communicator, He clicked it to transmit on the other end was Mr Ord.

"Captain you and the Doctor better get up to cabin 45 straight away"

As John reached the correct deck with Girha he could see that Tiberius had already stationed a Metroid on one end of the corridor keeping the other passengers away. Mr Ord was stood in the doorway trying to look calm, but John could see the panic in his eyes. As he and the Doc entered the room they were met by the view of a dead Berleni lying face down on the floor, the back of his neck looked like something had exploded out of it. The room was covered in sick and green blood from the reptilian.

"Christ it stinks in here" John exclaimed as he held his hand over his mouth.

That's the stomach acid from the deceased. Berleni have a particularly rancid stomach acid" replied Girha.

"The alarm was raised by the family next door, they could hear a lot of noise through the wall. When the father came out the door was open and well…"Mr Ord paused as though no one would believe him

"Spit it out you large idiot" This stern tone came from Arlox who had joined them finally in the cabin.

Mr Ord shot her a raised eyebrow as finished his sentence.

"He said that the deceased here was in the process of snapping his own neck"

"Okay, that's clearly the strangest thing that's happened this week" half joked John

The Doctor had already leant down by the body and began her scans with her medical tricorder. She was paying close attention to the gaping hole in the back of the dead alien's neck.

"Ord get Tiberius to get that Metroid outside to put everyone back into their rooms, go with it to help"

ordered Arlox. "John I'm going to want a full report in my ready room within the hour."

"Yes boss" replied the Captain.

"Boss?" asked the confused Doctor "I thought you were in charge?"

"I run the ship, she owns the ship. You've clearly not had a Ferengi boss before" he smiled.

Suddenly the whole deck was alight with red alert lights and a claxon.

"What the hell now?" asked John as he clicked his communicator to speak to Alexei

"Captain we've a red alert in Engineering, I'm getting no communic..."

but before Alexei could finish his sentence the comms went out. John shot a look at the Doctor who stepped out the way as the Captain bolted out of the room and towards the nearest turbolift.

"Tiberius " he yelled "what the hell is going on?"

The speaker system kicked in but Tiberius 's voice came through in a heavy static and falling apart.

"… Engineering… intruder…" then the voice phased out.

Just before reaching main Engineering John stopped at a secure weapons cupboard and retrieved a Bajoran Phaser which they had stashed all over the ship. As he entered the room he could see that all the Metroids were stood, inactive. On the floor was a dead crewman, a Mau they had just taken on as a temporary crew member. His face was smashed in by something with a great force which must have killed him instantly. Looking up at the second level at a console was Brooks. Suddenly all the Metroids began moving again and pointed at Books repeating over and over,

"Brooks. Stop!"

"What the hell is going?" yelled John up to him.

Without looking Brooks pulled out another Bajoran Phaser and shot at the Captain. The yellow Phaser beam narrowly missed John as he dove behind the main warp core to take cover.

 _Here's a good idea John, hide behind a warp core in a gun fight_ he thought to himself.

In the main entrance Alexei appeared with one of his own Type 2 Phaser from his personal collection. He had saw where the Phaser fire had come from and rolled in through the door and instantly shot back at that location. The blue energy beam missed its target and covered Brooks in sparks as it hit above his head, Alexei dove behind the warp core with John who was still taking cover.

"Bloody hell you mad Russian. Stick that damn thing on stun will you, I want Brooks alive" yelled John as another Phaser shot hit near them.

"I'm not going to lie Captain. This has made the day more exciting" grinned Alexei who was enjoying himself to the point it almost worried his Captain friend.

"I'll draw his fire, you better make the shot count Alexei" warned John as he took one last breath before making his run towards the stairs leading to the second level.

Alexei took a few seconds to aim and let a blast strike Brooks right in the upper chest knocking himself back against the wall and sending him unconscious. John made his way up the stairs and was just about to approach the knocked-out Brooks when he was distracted by the compartment doors slamming shut as if there was to be some kind or core breach. John looked back at the body of his crewman to find Brooks awake with his eyes open looking right at him.

"Oh Shi..."

The last thing John remembered was the sensation of being knocked painfully through the air.

Girha looked at her datapad, the Captain had been out cold for almost two hours now. She used a hyperspray on him to bring him out of the medical induced coma she had, had him in to tend to his internal wounds. John slowly opened his eyes and looked about. In a dry raspy voice, he said.

"What happened?"

He became aware that he wasn't alone with the doctor, by the bed was Alexei, Arlox and Morath. At the back of the room leaning against the wall with his arms crossed was Maddox.

"Try and stay relaxed" Girha said softly "You've had surgery but you should be okay"

John tried to sit himself up on his bed as Morath helped him.

"We had a serious problem John, we may still have actually" said Arlox.

"Where's Brooks?" asked the Captain.

"Dead. Tall dark and gay here blew the front of its head off" mocked Arlox as she shot Alexei a look.

"Yeah I did" smiled Alexei proudly which was met with a tut from the big boss.

Girha interrupted before the Human and Ferengi got back into their earlier fight regarding Phaser fire, warp cores and dead crewmen

"Look Brooks wasn't who you thought he was… well he was when he joined us but that thing you fought, definitely not Brooks"

"Indeed. The man was barely competent and basic software maintenance and what we saw today was on a genius level" said Maddox from the back of the room "The way he broke through the system firewalls and then locked Tiberius out all while systematically gaining control of main Engineering and bridge controls is in short, frightening. It took all of Tiberius s smarts to just send that warning through the Metroids to you" He continued as he joined the other around the bed.

"We believe that he brought the containment barriers down in Engineering because he was going to kill life support in all of the other decks" added Alexei "Maddox managed to bring Tiberius back online fully but its taking a while for his systems to reset"

John was still confused "What the hell happened to me?"

"Well Brooks threw you from the second floor and across into the warp core shielding" replied Alexei.

"We say Brooks but really it was this that used Brooks and as a meat suit&" added Girha as she passed him a datapad. On it was security footage showing a bug like parasite scurrying out of the cabin of the dead Mau. The footage then changed to it entering main Engineering.

"What the hell did I just watch?" asked a concerned and confused John

Arlox spoke "We Ferengi call them The Jinn." A particularly troublesome species of parasite."

" I believe it was in the Mau and the host body just failed. Probably due to some pre existing disease. Then it found Brooks" Girah added as she took her medical tricorder and began her final scan of John.

The Captain swung his legs off the bed. He still had questions, this was the first time having to deal with something on this scale. It twisted his head that was for sure

"Wait" he began "You said he was attempting bridge control, meaning he was going to kill us all off and take Tiberius for his own. any idea where?"

Arlox answered him, John could see she was still shaken by the whole thing

"Same course as we were on. the only difference would be he would stick us in low orbit directly over the Cardassian military outpost.

John wondered if this Jinn was planning an attack on the base, but given the age and firepower of the Tiberius he seriously doubted it. The Cardassians would have blew holes in them within seconds which left only one other option.

"So what would the Cardassian's want with an out of commission Federation starship?" he finally asked.

"What's to say there is Cardassian's down there? The Jinn take over; they don't work with; other species. I'm going to make a few calls. I want you all in my ready room within an hour." And with that Arlox turned and left.

The time had come. Morath, the Doctor, Alexei and Captain Illey were all stood in the Ferengi's ready room in front of her desk.

"Well then, how's the ship?" She began.

"I'm now fully operational" came Tiberius s voice "Father is still in Engineering completing the last of my firewall updates.

It creeped Morath out the ship he worked on referred to a crewmember as its father. Such an A.I would never be allowed on a Klingon ship.

"Good" replied Arlox "We can't afford to lose any profit right now"

"I think profit is the least of our problems" said John.

Arlox looked at him with a 'are you serious' look. After all this was a Ferengi he was speaking too.

Girha took her chance to jump in.

"My autopsies concluded that the parasite aggressively took control of Mr Brooks by digging into the back of his neck. Clearly not taking the time and care it did with The Mau host. Bar the obvious bug attached to the upper spine it released a strong enzyme."

"A scan of myself looking for that same enzyme indicates that bar the Mau and Mr Brooks there is no sign of other hosts added Tiberius

"So at least we don't have to worry about another one onboard" Remarked John.

Alexei turned to Arlox and asked, "You mentioned you were aware of them, so what's the story?"

"As some of you know back when I was younger I worked as an intelligence agent for the Grand Nagus. About twenty years ago he had one of his mining operations working a moon on one of our rim planets. A very profitable venture for the first few years until we lost contact with them, so we sent out a ship to investigate. What they found was the community out there in a sort of civil war. One side was saying the others were possessed while the other side said the same thing. Anyway we ended up losing the ship in the ensuing chaos. The Nagus couldn't risk anymore loss so he sent three ships out there, found the original ship destroyed by its own hand it seemed and the mining facility burning. From the ships logs we uploaded before forcing the wreckage into the atmosphere its deep scans showed Cavens right under the facility. So, we destroyed everything from orbit and hushed it all up" Explained Arlox sombrely.

God that's terrible" said Girha quietly

"Indeed, it was. A lot of profit lost that day" The Ferengi replied "We think the Jinn as we called them were in stasis down there and the drilling brought them back. This was backed up from a few dead samples we beamed aboard a few months later"

"Why call them The Jinn?" Asked Morath

"Named after an old Ferengi wife's tale. Like the Bogie man on Earth"

Each member of the crew wondered what their next step was going to be. It was Alexei who eventually asked

"Not a damn thing" John replied "We count ourselves lucky and get on with the job. We still have people and cargo to deliver on En Gast II"

Arlox rose from her desk and nodded in agreement with the Captain.

"Right everyone out. You all have jobs to do. Doctor I suggest you burn the Mau's body and prepare Brooks own carcass best you can. His family will be wanting it returned I'd imagine.

And with that they all filed out of the ready room. Arlox watched the last one leave before leaning back in her chair,

"Tiberius ?"

"Yes madam?" He responded.

"Patch me through to Ferengi high command. And keep it off the official logs" She said sternly

"May I ask why?"

Arlox took a deep breath before closing her eyes

I'm going to need to call in a favour" she said finally.


	3. S1 EP3 'THE GIFT'

Girha stamped her feet to keep warm and pulled her coat tighter around her. She took another look around at her surroundings and marvelled at all the differences of cultures that lay in front of her. The open-air market that ran the flanks of the street maze of one of the major cities on Mau Tprek was lined with food and bric-a-brac from all over the Seven Sisters. The smells had ranged from glorious to downright offensive on the way to her position, but she loved it, she even loved the fact that the snow gently falling around them was a light green colour.

Everything was so different from Betazed.

She was shaken from her winter land day dream by the spattering of whatever Morath was eating. She wiped the spots of purple blood from her face and give him a Watch what you are doing look. The fat Klingon give out a hearty laugh with his mouth still full of what she imaged was at first bite still a live squid from the local waters.

"Many apologies little one" mumbled Morath as he tried to speak and eat at the same time.

"Its fine" she said back to him.

Even if many saw him as a big smelly alien it was hard for her to stay mad at him.

For all he was a hardened Klingon she could still sense warmth of character from him.

"Why is it we are standing at this cross road again? I'm not even sure why I'm on this bounty hunt" she enquired again for what felt like the eighth time to the Engineer.

But before she could answer John's voice cut in over the intercom.

"So you can save his life if we accidentally kill the swine" panted the Captain.

He sounded like he was running.

"Yes, we do have somewhat of a history of perhaps bringing wanted men back dead rather than the better paying, Alive " added Morath.

"Okay" panted John over the communicator "He's almost on you."

Before them at the far end of the street and heading towards their position was a three-armed Mau, running at full pelt with panic in his face. Behind him chasing their bounty was Captain Iley and Alexei.

As the Mau got closer and closer Girha began to look at her Klingon helper and back at the target then back at the Klingon who was still munching through the purple squid like meal not looking like he was paying attention. She began to wonder if she herself would have to tackle this guy herself. Luckily for her Morath finally moved.

She watched as he stepped out into the path of the Mau and without really looking up from his snack he slammed his elbow in to the fully sprinting alien as he past. The doctor heard the almighty crack at would have been that species version of a nose.

"Ah…" she finally said as the two other crew mates stopped behind her completely out of breath.

"That's why you needed me along."

The three of them looked over the unconscious body. John clicked his wrist communicator with a smile. "Tiberius. Five to beam up please."

A few hours had passed as John entered the sickbay.

"Well?" enquired the Doctor.

"National Guard just picked him up and a nice fat bounty payment is in our account" He answered as he sat on the examination bench.

The Doc gave a look of slight confusion at the mention of the Guard. John waited until she began her medical scans before he explained.

"The National Guard is like a mish mash of Military and Police. They are made up of solely, The Mau, Direnosian and Berlenghast races…" he flinched as Girha took a sizable sample of Blood from his arm.

"So that's who pays our bounties?" She asked without looking at him. She was much more engrossed in her medical tricorder.

"Yeah" John tried to creek his neck to see the display " So what's the news."

She looked up to see the Captain looking sheepishly at her. He was trying to hide his fear but being a Batazoid she picked it up easily. Her body language and tone changed, she became more like the professional doctor she had trained to be.

"I'm sorry; the Cardasian root hasn't really changed anything in the Gurlam Disease, Captain"

"Crap" he said to himself.

"You did the right thing telling me John. I may not be able to cure this, but I may be able to slow it somewhat. I'll get Tiberius to keep searching the databanks" she smiled warmly at him.

John made his way into Arlox's office. He slumped himself down in the chair opposite her desk and waited for the Ferengi to raise her head out of her account datapads.

"We need to double our profit" she said plainly without looking up to him.

"I assume it'll be illegal" he half joked.

She looked back at him with an expression showing he was right. John draped his head forward. He didn't know why he was so surprised.

"Before you moan human, its just illegal medicines. Nothing too hot for the authorities just 'frowned upon' you could say."

She was using her authoritative voice now, but John didn't buy her head of the family act. She continued her sell to him.

"...its medicine needed for a Xindi settlement on Mau'Tprek VI."

"Let me get this straight" John interrupted " You want to take illegal cargo to a settlement no one is sure even exists?"

"Oh, its real my cocky little Captain. Its location is only known if you are well connected and influential like me" she bragged.

Within the hour, Tiberius was already at full warp towards the settlement

"I can't find anything on the subnet about a settlement" said Helena as she twirled on her seat to look at John. She was sitting at one of the free operation computers along the rear of the bridge. Alexei smiled from his position, it was good to see his daughter in a better mood. She had plenty of her down days but today thankfully wasn't one of them.

"It just doesn't make any sense" mumbled the Captain to himself as he looked over to main screen. Alexia had thrown up Helena's findings up for all to see.

"There is nothing on there at these co-ordinates except for this" she clicked a few buttons and the main screen changed to show a relevantly low resolution shot of a clearing within a forest.

It kind of looked like the grass had been cut short showing a hexagon shape in the middle.

The Captain rose from his seat and walked to the image.

"Can you enhance?" He asked her.

"Nope. It's a survey image of a passing probe from a few years back. The probe was hitting about warp one past the planet at the time. I found this image on a strange conspiracy site. It gives a hint towards an underground facility but nothing really solid." She replied looking at her wrist communicator.

"Dinner time?" Asked her dad.

She smiled back at him at hopped out towards the Turbolift.

John heard the lift shut and said "Good day for her. Good to see her on the up like this"

"These are the good one's boss. Hope it lasts a few days at least this time" replied Alexei.

John let out a sigh, something about this made him nervous. Arlox had something dodgy planned which normally meant it ending in him and his crew being shot at. It was the fact she was holding the cards so close to her chest which made him sweat the most.

"Tiberius?"

"Yes Captain" the ship's AI replied.

"Give more attention to the long-range sensors as we approach will you. I don't want us flying into a trap."

The Captain went back to his chair. Alexei clicked over to the full autopilot and began to walk to the turbo lift.

"I'm off to arm myself. Shall I bring the Grenades my Captain?" he said in a mocking tone.

"Please tell me you're joking?" John answered sitting back in his chair.

His Russian friend never answered.

Down on the engineering deck Maddox Maddox was on his back under Tiberius 's central console that held the AI's positronic brain.

"Daisy. Daisy give me your answer do…" sang Tiberius as Maddox fine-tuned his creation's polarity ejectors.

"Tiberius, are you singing?" Asked the confused Maddox.

"Dave… what are you doing Dave?" Came back the monotone answer.

"Oh god what have I knocked" the scientist mumbled to himself as he went back under the console to quickly re check his work.

"You've done nothing father. I was just trying to lighten the mood with a joke" replied Tiberius in his normal voice.

"Wait, how is that funny? Who's Dave? And how many times have I told you to stop referring to me as your father. It's creepy" Maddox said as he rose to his feet clearly annoyed.

"Our chat will have to wait Big Daddy; we are within sensor distance of Mau T'prek VI" Tiberius informed Maddox.

Back on the Bridge Captain Iley was looking at the long-range data streaming in to his display. Arlox was stood next to him looking over his shoulder.

"Tiberius can you see anything on these coordinates; I'm making out nothing" he turned to look at Arlox

" Are you sure on this?"

"Stop asKing John and trust me" she said " Tiberius are we being scanned yet?" She added.

"No… Wait I am now picking up sensor reading emanating from orbit above the planet. I am unable to locate its source" replied the ship.

Arlox hit on her communicator band on her wrist.

"Alexei make sure you're ready at Transporter Room two. The Captain is on his way" she said in a smug tone as she smiled at John and nodded for him to go join Alexei. The robotic voice from the Metroid 'Jena' at the helm let the bridge know that they were coming to a full stop above the agreed coordinates.

Alexei gave Helena a hug before stepping onto the Transporter pad.

"You don't have to hug me every time you leave the ship you know Dad" she smiled.

"Call it kind of a lucky charm for me sweetheart. Besides it's a serious matter when a father doesn't want to hug his daughter every chance he can" and with that he gave her an extra kiss on the cheek. The door opened and in came John putting on his leather jacket,

"Arlox won't let us go armed, she's made it very clear" began the Captain as he joined Alexei on the pad.

"I completely agree Captain. Now saying that would you prefer the Vulcan Phaser or the Federation type 1 Phaser I stole from my days on the Enterprise?" Replied the Russian.

John nodded to Helena to complete the transporter code to send them and their cargo stacked behind him on their way. As he looked at Alexei and allowed a dry smile to creep across his face and with that the blue glow of the transporter engulfed them.

John and Alexei found themselves stood in a grass clearing with the cases of medical supplies transported behind them. Alexei looked about while the Captain did a quick scan of the area with his tricorder.

"I'm not picking up anything. I really..." he was interrupted by the loud clanking noise of mechanics beneath their feet. The ground moved to show they were stood on a well camouflaged lift. Both men pulled their guns as they descended. As the platform clunked to a stop they found themselves in a large chamber with only the light from the hole illuminating them. Out of the darkness stepped a Xindi- Primate woman.

On Tiberius 's bridge Helena was sat in her dad's seat playing a traditional hand game Tiberius had taught her. He was channelling himself through Jena's Metroid body to play with her.

"It's a lot like Paper, Scissors or Stone we Humans play" she said with a frustrated tone at losing the 8th game in a row

"Can I ask you something?" The Tiberius asked.

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Why is it you never leave the ship?"

Helena was a tad taken back by the question. Her up mood was starting to slip away. She didn't answer him. How could she. He wouldn't know how she felt, how the idea of leaving this ship scared her.

"P… People get hurt when they leave ships" she stuttered. " I have to go" she added as she stood and began to walk out.

The turbolift door didn't open.

"Tiberius, let me out... please" she begged. His internal scanners showed she was becoming agitated as she began to grip her wrist.

"Helena, you need to calm. I've made you something. Because of this job we are on I can finally show you."

Helena looked over at the Jena and wondered what Tiberius could mean.

Back on the planet John and Alexei found themselves facing the Xindi women. They had dropped their weapons but were still weary.

"We thank you for the medicine Captain" she said calmly smiling " I'm sorry if we scared you but your transporters won't be able to penetrate our home while the dome is closed ."

She walked over to them and dropped a heavy bag at Alexei's feet.

"Your payment Gentlemen"

John noticed that for this whole time the old woman hadn't looked them in the eyes.

"What is this place?" He asked.

The women dipped her head and stepped back. The platform began to rise taking both men to the surface. Moments later they found themselves being transported back to the ship and being faced with a nervous looking Mr Ord.

"Why does you face fill me with concern Mr Ord" asked John.

"Well Captain it seems that we have lost a member of the crew." He replied trying to keep his trademark smile.

"How the hell does Tiberius just leave the damn ship?" Yelled the Captain at Maddox as he walked into Engineering.

"I don't know. All his sub routines are still there but 'He' isn't" replied the heavily confused scientist.

John looked around engineering at all the lifeless Metroids just stood about. They were like this all over the ship.

"I thought these bloody things were automatic" John nodding towards the nearest Metroid.

"Erm they are mostly. They still need Tiberius plugged into their operating system. Look this is not my fault Captain" huffed Maddox.

Before he could answer his communicator bleeped. It was a very angry sounding Arlox.

"John it's me. Alexei has managed to shift Jena out of the seat; he has manual control of the ship now. I want me AI back Cap…"

John cut her off mid-sentence, he couldn't be bothered listening to another rant about her losing money. The doors of engineering swished open and the Doctor entered looking someone panicked.

"Captain its Helena. She doesn't seem to be on the ship. She was meant to meet for her regular check-up" she said. John looked at her, he couldn't believe this was just going from bad to worse.

"Morath" he snapped at the Klingon " get internal sensors on manual and sweep ever section of this ship. Maddox forget about Tiberius for now and get these Metroids moving."

He didn't look forward to having to tell Alexei that Tiberius s disappearance was probably linked to his own daughter going missing. As he left engineering to head up to the bridge to tell his friend face to face, Mr Ord came through on the intercom.

"What is it now?" asked the Captain.

"I'm in Transporter room 2 sir. The system logs are showing a remote transporting from the Bridge. The pattern seems to be Helena's" replied Mr Ord.

"What? Where did she go?" he demanded.

"The surface, to be more exact the same co-ordinates you and Alexei where just at. They transported down a few minutes before you came up."

John, Alexei and Morath beamed down to their last location on the surface. The Captain began to scan the area with his tricorder and Alexei and Morath started laying charges around the area of the floor lift.

"Arlox still can't get the ship scanners to penetrate the surface. I'm picking up sod all with the tri-corder" advised John and he joined the other two as they now entered the centre of the lift platform.

"Let's get down there" said Alexei who was looking a mixture of the universe's most angry individual and the most worried. He hit the detonator which ignited the plasma charges around them which cut through the seal of the hidden lift. Luckily the thing worked on hydraulics so their decent was not too rapid. They raised their weapons and switched their tactical lights on as they made their way to what looked like an internal safety door inside the dome.

"Get the charges on this boy. We'll have your daughter saved in no time" growled Morath pointing to the door."

"They must have beamed her off when the safety doors where opened letting us in the first time" guessed John

But before Alexei had a chance to get out more plasma charges the door's massive locking mechanism unlocked and began to open. The three of them raised their Phasers not knowing what to expect. They were surprised to be met by the same Xindi women from before.

"Gentlemen please lower your weapons. Your two crew members are fine and safe" smiled the old dear as she gestured for them to follow.

"Two crew members?" Asked Morath quietly to John who just shrugged back.

The old women led them through a maze of underground tunnels; john could hear the constant hum of energy being shot through the panels above them. Whatever this place was it was producing massive amounts of power.

The woman paused at another main door before opening it.

"Not long ago our security system picked up an illegal transport inside our insulation. We found the young lady and the programme in one of our cross over rooms."

"What's a cross over room?" Asked John as he watched her open the security door.

His mouth almost hit the deck at what he saw next. In front of them is a huge walkway cutting across an expanse that was filled with hundreds and hundreds of different Xindi in status chambers.

"Our followers live in a constant cryogenically form with their minds linked between a fully computerised world. A cross over room allows caretakers like myself to interact with those in the system. It's like a holodeck in many ways."

The four of them crossed over the walkway looking at all the many people lining the walls.

"Are they sick?" Asked the Klingon.

"No, the medicine was for the caretakers. Without us, the system will corrupt, and we will lose everyone you see here" she replied.

They exited the expanse and entered a corridor flanked with other doors. As they entered one it was apparent it was a holodeck. Inside the programme was already running a simulation of what looked to be the engineering department of a federation starship.

"Looks to be a Galaxy Class" mentioned Morath.

"Oh God, it's the Enterprise" whispered Alexei.

John turned to look at his friend just in time to see a tear run down his cheek. John looked at what had caught his friends gaze. He could now see Helena hugging one of the simulations, a Starfleet officer in a command red 'Skant' uniform. As he neared them he could make out Helena sobbing as she desperately hung to the man. Alexei gently placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and fought back the overwhelming need to cry.

It didn't take John long to work out that the simulation was of Helena's other father, Alexei's now dead husband.

"I'm sorry if I scared everyone"

The voice came from behind John who almost jumped out of his skin at what he turned to see. In front of him was an eight-foot, four-armed rainbow lizard man in the nude.

"what the fu-?" The Captain gasped.

"Oh, it's just me, Tiberius. I had to pick a form to be in here with her, I kind of got carried away Captain."

"What the hell are you playing at Tiberius. We were worried sick we thought something had happened" added Morath.

The ridiculous looking lizard man turned to look at Helena in the distance and attempted what looked like a grin and said softly to the group. "I just wanted her to smile more."

A few hours later and the ship was at warp. Arlox had called both John and Maddox into her ready room.

"How's the girl?" She asked John.

"Good, a bit emotional but good, thankfully. Alexei is with her now. I think it was a bit of a shunt to him as well to be honest. Tiberius said he created the program as a way for Helena to have some closure."

Arlox nodded in silence as she listened to her Captain, but truth be told she didn't really care either way. The profit lost if this job had gone south was more of a concern to her. She turned and looked to Maddox.

"And should I be worried that the artificial intelligence running this ship can leave whenever it takes its fancy?" Her tone was one of complete seriousness as for her this was a scary option as it would have serious impact on her profit margin.

"I don't know what happened or how he even knew the base was there to transport his coding and Helena into it" gave Maddox as a weak reply as Arlox removed a small device from her top draw and placed it on the desk.

It immediately began to light up.

"A listening scrambler?" Asked Maddox

"Your little friend 'knew' about it and its Holodeck because he has broken into my encrypted files. To say I'm a little upset is an understatement" she replied.

"If I try resetting his basic coding there is a good chance he could lock me out. The only way to deal with this is to take him offline altogether but it means he'll be down for a few days at least." Maddox looked at her to see if the Ferengi would give the go ahead.

"Not a chance, there is no way we can lose the man power he brings in with the Metroids with just the small crew we have stationed. Just sort it Maddox. That's why you were allowed on here with your scientific pet" scowled the Ferengi.

Maddox knew better than to argue and instead stood and turned to leave. John watched him exit and give himself a little giggle.

"I think you may have upset his little heart" joked John as he turned back to Arlox " Now care to explain to me when there is a big bunch of Xindi species living hidden underground?"

"Long story short is that they were part responsible for the attempted genocide of you Humans a few centuries back. So deeply ashamed they decided to not be part of the physical world" she said matter of factually. " Don't see the problem myself as it's just Humans they were trying to kill."

John ignored her blatant attempt at getting a rise out of him. He got out of his chair and walked to the door.

Before it opened Arlox stopped him.

"John, I'm not joking about Tiberius. He's going to be a massive problem soon" she said seriously.

The Captain didn't even turn to look at her as he sadly replied

" I know."

Then left


	4. S1 EP4 'TECH NOIR'

Helena looked over the banister at the eight stories of luxury shopping mall below her. The place was semi crammed with Aliens from the nearby settlements and people who have travelled here for the day. She even spotted a couple of Federation officers laughing and flirting together, clearly on shore leave.

"Helena" came the shape yell. She turned to see Arlox in the shop door of a very garish rich ladies shop. She was beckoning her like an angry babysitter at the end of her wits end, "Come in child and tell me what you think" continued Arlox

In a rare occurrence of compassion, the Ship's owner had decided to take Alexei's daughter shopping on the settlement's Commerce Area on En Ghast III.

Helena had wondered if Arlox was doing what everyone else had been doing since her time with Tiberius on in the Cross Over room.

Everyone had been treating her with kit gloves since that day and going out of their way to make her happy.

"What do you think then?" asked Arlox as she fashioned off a very large and over the top, expensive necklace.

"Erm... Well..." she stuttered trying to be polite "its very... you"

"Of course, it is my dear. That much I know" came the smug reply.

"listen I'm a little hungry, do you mind if I leave to get something to eat?" Helena asked.

She normally would feel sick being in a place like this with so many other people but of late she felt different inside of herself. She could feel a confidence of sort.

"Nourishment. Of course, an excellent idea" and with that Arlox linked her arm aggressively and left the ship dragging Helena along.

She was a little annoyed that the short Ferengi was coming as well as she wanted some

time alone, exploring.

They shifted through the crowds with little resistance. Arlox's little legs where pumping so hard that Helena wondered if anything would stop her.

"I saw some Starfleet people before"? The child stated in an attempt to start a conversation.

"Yes, yes The Federation runs a ship in here once a month for their crew to get some R&R" came the snappy reply. Arlox seemed to be locked onto the food section like a homing missile. Helena had a funny feeling as she walked, kind of like someone walking across her grave. She turned sideways to see a single National Guard officer watching her from one of the other walk ways. His purple Direnosian eyes were bearing down onto her. It was strange she thought, how he was alone when normally they worked in pairs but mostly how he was looking at her with such empty intense.

Arlox had ordered a local dish as Helena picked at her sandwich.

"So" The Ferengi began with a mouth full of food "why are you so sad all the time?"

Helena shrugged.

"The doctors said it's Depression."

"Huh" she grunted " another sign of why Humans are so strange and weak"

Instead of being insulted, Helena quite enjoyed Arlox's honesty. It was something that the others didn't do on the ship, other than Tiberius of course. They all treated her like she was a fragile egg and it annoyed her. She smiled and was about to take a bit out of her food when she felt a hand clamp hard around her arm. It was the National Guard Officer from earlier.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled in a typical teenager manner.

He said nothing and began to drag her away as Arlox jumped up and took chase.

Helena tried to fight back but his strength was incredible as he forced his way through the crowds and into a service hallway. Arlox was hanging onto Helena's free hand and trying to anchor herself with no luck. In the hallway the three of them found themselves alone. The officer stopped, drew his weapon and started to point it at Arlox.

She knew the green energy beam would have killed her if the child hadn't moved his arm in an attempt to help. She didn't even think about what she was doing as she pulled her own personal protection Phaser and fired. It hit the officer who fell back against the wall. It didn't kill him but it was enough for him to drop his grip on Helena.

The Direnosian tilted his head at the Ferengi and lifted his Phaser towards her again. She thumbed the weapon to full power and just beat him to another shot. His body burned away from the intense blast.

The sound of alarms filled the air.

It was the security sensors picking up the Phaser fire.

"We need to go" said an aspirated Arlox, grabbing Helena and moving quickly down the corridors "We need to find an emergency exit"

"Holy crap" laughed Helena nervously "how bad ass are you?"

Morath's small cargo shuttle came into land in the clearing in the slums that Arlox and Helena had been hiding in for over an hour. Its doors opened showing a concerned Alexei holding his hand out to take them on board.

He hugged his daughter hard.

"Are you trying to kill me with a heart attack child?" he said

"Shut up and take this thing off" Arlox barked back as she moved up to the pilots cabin and sat herself next to Morath.

"Are you sure you were not followed?" she barked

"Absolutely not, although I'm not sure why we couldn't just transport you up?" he asked

"Can't run the risk of them tracing the transporter signal you idiot" she replied while nervously looking out of the side window.

"I'm an idiot? I'm not the one who killed a National Guard, Ferengi" he retorted back to her.

In the back Alexei comforted his daughter.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"She looked back up at him, smiled and hugged him a bit closer.

Back on The Tiberius, John met the shuttle in the main bay. All four of its occupants exited.

They met their Captain with his hands thrown up in frustration.

"Are you out of your tiny mind woman?" he began "do you know the crap you are about to bring down on us?"

"Do shut up Captain" she replied dismissively as they exited the shuttle bay and headed to the Bridge.

As they crammed themselves into the Turbolift she turned to Alexei.

"I want you to scan all communication channels. I need to know what is being said."

With a hiss the door opened on the bridge and the Ferengi made a bee-line for her ready room. The rest of them hung back on the bridge and took up their positions.

"Helena, why would the National Guard want you for?" Asked John.

"I don't know" she said softly back to him.

"She's done nothing" said Alexe i defensively.

" I know, I know" added John as he motioned for his friend to calm himself "Look the Guard aren't in the business of just picking up children off the street without good reason."

Tiberius 's voice filled the bridge.

"I have run multiple checks and Helena is not wanted for any crime within the Seven Sisters. The National Guard have posted that two of their officers are missing in this area though".

"Two?" pondered the Captain "I thought Arlox only scorched one of them?"

"There was only one there when we were attacked" added Helena.

The bridge console alarm began to screech as the Operations panel in front of Alexei began to light up all sorts of warning lights.

"Oh crap" Alexei's voice was full of panic and worry.

"Report" asked John sternly as he stood to go over.

Tiberius automatically switched main viewer to what Alexei was worried about. On the screen in front of them, entering the same low orbit of The Tiberius were two National Guard Cruisers. Both the same size of Tiberius but with twice the firepower.

"We're being hailed" reported Tiberius.

"Helena go hide in the ready room with Arlox" ordered John.

He gave the nod to answer the hail once the girl had disappeared. Onscreen came a Commander of the Nation Guard, a stern looking Direnos.

"Frigate Ship , Tiberius . Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded". As soon as he finished his sentence the screen cut off.

"Captain?" Alexei spun on his seat and looked at John.

"Do it. We can't fight them both" he said back.

Seconds later the bridge lit up with orange light as five National Guard troops and the Commander beamed aboard.

"We are looking for the Ferengi woman who owns this vessel and the Human Child. Security footage has them linked with the death of two of me officers. Give them up or be destroyed" scowled the Commander. John could see out the corner of his eye that Alexei was slowly beginning to reach for what he assumed was a hidden Phaser. The Captain purposely walked between the Guards and his Operations man, he didn't want to see Alexei get himself killed.

"And what are the charges?" demanded John.

"Murder-Death, two serving National Guardsmen"

The commander motioned for two of the Guards to search the Ready Room but before they reached the door Arlox came out with her hands up.

"It's fine I'll come quietly" she said as she exited.

"Where is the girl?" demanded the commander

"You're not taking her. She's my..." but before Alexei could finish one of the Guards backhanded him across the face.

The tension shot up in the bridge instantly and the place fell silent.

The Captain looked at the men closest and quickly worked out which to attack in what order.

He just waited for someone to make their move.

"Enough" snapped Arlox "She's not here. She ran when your goon attacked her on the surface"

The Commander looked at her suspiciously, then mentioned for the nearest guard to take her prisoner. He clicked his shoulder communicator and spoke into it.

"Scan the ship. Find me that Human"

A few seconds passed and the results came back.

"Scan complete sir. There is no Human female on board."

The Commander scowled again and then they all transported off the Tiberius with Arlox.

As soon as they had gone Alexei made a break for Arlox's office. He found it empty and shouted his daughters name out.

A thud and a screech of metal answered him as a wall panel fell open.

It was Helena, hidden in one of the Ferengi's smuggler holes.

"She said the walls in there would mask their tri-corders" Helena said with a quivering bottom lip.

"What now?" asked Morath

"We're screwed without Arlox. She holds all the accounts and contracts. Without her we're dead in the water without that money." answered the Captain.

"We have to get her back" Pleaded Helena "she saved my life on the planet".

John nodded and looked at the others around him. They all looked as if they agreed.

"Right then. Let's plan a jail break".

It had only took Tiberius a few hours to break the communication code of the National Guard ship and found that Arlox would be processed aboard the ship and then transports to 'Central' by shuttle. Central was a huge space station on the edge of Berlenghaust and Mau space and doubled as their HQ and prison. Once in there, they knew they would never get to her, so a plan was formed to free her in transport.

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Morath through the comms unit in Engineering.

John replied by clicking a button on his Captains chair.

"I'm supremely confident it will. You just make sure those engines are on full when we make a run for it."

John clicked off the comms and looked at the main view screen hiss and jump with the interference form the nebula cloud they were hiding the Tiberius in.

"Are we sure this will work?" John asked Alexei at his post.

"The subspace signal is weak but we'll get the signal to jump out just fine" the Russian answered.

"Tiberius , you ready?"

"Yes Captain. Now I have the coding broke it should be no trouble for me to take control of the shuttle as soon as we break through the Nebula" came the reply.

"Okay" john said to himself "yeah I'm sure this will be just fine. I mean what can go wrong?"

Outside the perimeter sat Mr Ord in Arlox's personal shuttle as it pretended to drift damaged. He watched on the long-range scanners as the National Guard ship come along on its predicted flight path right on time.

"Oh My" he muttered as he brought up a more detailed scan "Oh my indeed" .

His face was one of worry.

Back at his OPs desk Alexi received an update from the week signal.

"Ship has been sighted. Mr Ord has hit the distress signal".

"Are we picking them up?" asked the Captain.

"No. As predicted the Nebula storm is killing sensors. If we can't see them, they won't see us" he answered.

They waited a few more seconds and then the signal came through from Mr Ord to move.

"Jena move us into position. Tiberius get ready" ordered John.

The old Consultation class ship drifted out of the Nebula on thrusters only. As soon as the main dish was clear Tiberius transmitted his virus code straight to what should have been a National Guard shuttle.

Except it wasn't a shuttle.

The screen cleared of its interference and in front of them was a full blown National Guard cruiser.

"Oh shit" The Captain said out loud.

This wasn't what they expected, and it proved a bigger problem than a small shuttle.

"I'm in" said Tiberius "Their sensors are offline. They shouldn't know we are here, I'm searching for Arlox now.

A few nervous seconds passed before Tiberius spoke again.

"Captain" it was Maddox in Engineering "They are countering Tiberius 's virus. We're losing our foothold"

"Morath, get Ord and the shuttle aboard right now. We're leaving" yelled the Captain into the comms.

Aboard the ship Arlox stood in her cell and listened to the alarms going off. Guards ran left and right past her.

"Hello madam" said Tiberius through the cell speakers "Beaming you out, now".

A passing guard heard this and immediately dropped the cell force field and pulled his weapon. His reactions kicked in as he saw the Fernegi begin to be transported from her cell. He fired his Phaser from his hip as the transporter beam hit full power.

"Their sensors and engines are rebooting now Captain" Warned Alexei.

"Prepare to stand down and surrender. I'm not getting us killed over this" John snapped back.

Tiberius 's voice once again filled the bridge.

"I've transported Arlox to med-bay. Captain I'm sorry but..."

On the main screen they watched in horror as the Cruiser began to explode and destroy itself.

"God no... Jena get us out of here. Maximum warp" yelled John.

The Tiberius dipped to the right and moved away under impulse before jumping to Warp.

Behind them the Cruiser exploded and disintegrated in a white flash.

John ran down to Med-Bay at the request of the Doctor. The urgency in her voice let John know what to expect.

The door opened.

Girha was stood by a med-table as the Metroid Nursey tended to its general duties at the back of sickbay. On the table was Arlox's body.

"He didn't beam her out quick enough. Scans indicate an energy beam screwed her signal" explained the Doctor as she pointed to Arloxs chest.

John had seen this kind of wound once before. If the energy from a Phaser hits a person in transport at the right time the area doesn't materialise correctly at the other end.

The Captain looked down at the mangled chest cavity of his former boss below him.

He turned, said nothing and left.

He said nothing either when he walked into Engineering and grabbed Maddox and marched him into Arlox's ready room. Maddox like John had remained quiet the whole time. He knew why talking would be dangerous at this point. John rummaged around the desk draw until he found what he was searching for.

He clicked on the anti-eavesdropping device.

"Talk to me Maddox" he said as he collapsed in Arlox's chair.

"I don't know what you want me to say" he replied sheepishly.

"Your little pet has just killed over two hundred National Guardsmen. Don't play with me Maddox. Do we have a renegade AI on board?" John tried to not lose his temper. It wasn't Maddox's fault, it's not like he created a mass murdering spaceship on purpose.

"It would seem so Captain. I looked through his logs and I can see he set the self-destruct". replied Maddox.

John sucked in a load of air in through his nose and blow it out of his mouth.

"Can we take him offline without him doing the same to us?" the Captain asked.

"You should just ask me directly my Captain" it was Tiberius

The two men jumped. They didn't know how the ships' Ai could hear them.

"That device never worked. I just never told Arlox. I guess I didn't want her to worry" the ship continued "I understand your fear of me, I really do. I made that decision to save you all, you are my friends. Once on that Cruiser I calculated that even with the plan going exactly as planned as soon as I disengaged they would know it was us. We would have been hunted and imprisoned. I would have simply been terminated."

"You killed all those innocents Tiberius " said Maddox softly.

"I know father. I feel guilt for that. They will never see their families again due to me. But that is all on me to deal with, not the Crew" he replied.

"They'll work it out, they'll come for us. we need supplies and to get out of the Seven Sister and just run for it" added the Captain.

"No" came the matter of fact reply from Tiberius "There is nowhere to run. Federation and Klingon will turn us in, Cardasian space is still a no go after the Dominion War. There is no where we can go they won't find us. All we can do is wait... wait and see if we got away with it"

The two men looked at each other. They were unaware that Tiberius was transmitting the whole conversation to the rest of the crew. He figured they all had a right to hear this.

"My actions were rash and violent, John. But they ensured we would not be caught. I'm sorry Arlox didn't make it. But now we have to deal with the situation best we can" said Tiberius.

John sunk his head in his hands and felt like screaming.

"If we're going to hide we need somewhere crowded in blend into. Tiberius get Jena to set course for Direnos IV, Warp 7" ordered John.

"Yes my Captain".

The ship moored itself to one of the many orbital docks above the planet. Direnos IV was a heavy industrial settlement mostly made up of Gorn and Direnosians with other species scattered about. The crew found themselves in a sleazy bar in the Gorn district.

"I've put some feelers out to see what the word is" began Alexei as he took a sip of his ale and leaned back to keep an eye on Helena.

She was playing a Gorn tabletop pool game with Mr Ord.

"The main news is reporting that The National Guard are searching for a ship but are not saying who or what type." added Girha.

John leaned forward and played with his half empty glass as he give the situation some thought.

"Okay well my contacts tell it a little different" began the Captain "I know this woman from back in the day, she works for one of the local media-casts. She let me know that the Guard are looking for an inside man. They know that their ship had its sensors and comms cut before the auto destruct

went off."

"Is it wise to be talking to someone outside of us, John?" asked the Klingon engineer.

"Yeah, yeah its fine. I'm always talking about the National Guard stuff with her. In our line of work, it pays to know. And she gets paid very well indeed" responded John in an off handed manner.

Maddox had been sat all this time in a world of his own nursing his full drink. John looked over to him.

"Maddox, you wanna chip in here about Tiberius "

The scientist looked up at the group.

"The AI is fully integrated into the Ship. We take him off line and we end up with a floating pile of metal. I ran a few checks..." he took a sip from his drink "Tiberius has moved his subroutines into the ship far deeper than I had allowed. For the last six weeks he has the ability to run the ship fully"

"Define fully?" asked Morath

"Fully as in, he doesn't need the Metroids anymore. He's clearly still using them in an attempt to let us not know how much control he has." Maddox's face dropped like he can't believe what he has created.

Mr Ord and Helena walked over to listen.

"Can we just not walk into Engineering and shoot that brain of his?" asked Alexei

"I would imagine no for two very good reasons" added Mr Ord

John looked up confused "Excuse me?"

Mr Ord smiled and sat down to address the group.

"Tiberius isn't as evil as you are all thinking. What he is, is growing. He has a personality..."

"Holodeck characters can seem to have personality, doesn't mean they actually do" interrupted Girha

"No but they are programmed that way" countered Mr Ord as he looked towards Maddox "But you haven't t plugged him in with one, have you?"

Maddox's looked sheepish.

John just looked annoyed.

"Something you're keeping from the group?" he asked.

Maddox took a breath before answering.

"Tiberius is more than a sophisticated AI. He's grown into a full functioning sentient being. My reading suggests that he's growing and learning at a fantastic rate. It seems he even has true emotions"

"So, we're talking Murder now then" pointed out Girha.

"is that a problem?" asked a confused Morath "It's not like he is skin and bone"

"Hey, he's my friend, I'll not have one of you hurt him" added a defensive Helena.

John motioned for her to calm down as she went and sat by her dad.

"No one is killing Tiberius. Truth be told we need him. Without that ship we're out of work and out of a life we all like. And if this goes south with the National Guard we'll need the ship to make a run for it."

John took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "Anyway, I may have a plan".

John had ordered them to stay out and have some fun. He had gone back alone to address the rest of the hired crew. They had dropped them off at a port before the jail heist, after all he didn't know them well enough to trust them. Bar the core crew they were basically just hired help.

He had sent a message explaining they would not be picked back up and they were now under a cancellation of contract and an attachment letting them access their final pay. Apart from his friends at the bar the only people on the ship were now Tiberius and the Metroids.

John walked into Engineering and noticed a few Metroids going about their business, they paid no attention to the Captain as he picked up a stool and took it over to were Tiberius s positronic brain was plugged in. It whirled and beeped away with its coloured lights, the data cables going to and from the brain and the consul it sat on.

John sat on the stool and pulled the Phaser casually from under his jacket.

"Captain Iley" said Tiberius just as calmly as he always acknowledged him.

John looked about as if he had all the time in the world. He noticed the Metroids had stopped working and were standing very still and facing his direction.

"Bet I can shoot you in the brain before you can get one of them to strangle me" he taunted the AI.

There was a clash of noise as each Metroid turned itself off and tumbled to the floor.

"Do it" said Tiberius in a tone that made him sound like he accepted his end.

John was a little surprised, but he didn't lower his weapon.

"You know why I'm here then?"

"Yes, John. It doesn't take a genius Space Ship to work out why you're not bringing the crew back and you're on here alone. I would never hurt you, you know?" replied the sad voice.

"I can't take the risk. After all you killed two hundred plus Guardsmen" counted John.

"I was protecting my Family. You would have all been in that Prison station if it wasn't for me. Do you know what that place would have been like for Helena?"

Tiberius sounded like he was pleading with him, but John couldn't be sure it wasn't a trick.

"You called us Family. Why?"

"You are. You all are. I feel for each of you. I know you treat me as a pest of an artificial intelligence running around the inside of this old ship, I know now you consider me dangerous. But all I want to do is protect you all. Have you considered how scary this is for me?"

John was a little taken aback by Tiberius 's comment. How could the ship feel an emotion like that?

"I was created by Maddox in his madness to better some android off on a Federation ship somewhere. I didn't ask to evolve like I have, but here I am"

Tiberius 's tone was unlike John had ever heard from him before. He actually felt sorry for Tiberius.

" Alive, you could say?" added the Captain.

"Yes... and I don't want to die. But I also don't want you all afraid of me" came the ships reply, "Just do what you must".

"Christ" John muttered to himself as he holstered his Phaser. "Maybe I should. Once the National Guard catch us they'll just pull you apart anyway"

Tiberius 's tone picked up slightly "No. They won't be coming for us. Before I destroyed that ship I pulled their access codes. I'm currently plugged into the National Guard central computer. All their evidence points to it being an act of terror from inside their own ranks. The idiots have no idea really"

John mulled this over.

If true they were clear and dry. After all, if the Guard suspected them they would have pulled them in by now he figured.

"Okay" began John "But with Arlox dead that's dried up any future contracts and jobs. You know she kept that stuff away from us on encrypted drives."

Tiberius 's voice became almost chirpy with what he said next.

"Oh, I can help there as well my Captain".


	5. S1 EP5 'BURNT'

Girha stood and looked out of the galley observation window at the Planet below. Direnos Prime lay beneath the ship as they sailed into orbit. The planet had an orange dusty glow to it, all over its surface lighting strikes danced about and seemed to never end. Running what seemed the entire equator of the planet was the Orbital Cities. Looking like Skyscrapers, all linked together side by side. The massive orbital metropolis didn't run tall and deep but what was impressive to her was the fact it stretched two thirds of the planet width like rings around a planet.

Mr Ord silently walked up next to her.

"An amazing if horrific sight is it not? Only two hundred years ago that was a lush green planet" he said in his normal gentle tone as he looked out.

"In all my research on the Seven Sisters, this is the place I wanted to see the most. A little grim to think that, yes?" she replied.

"We're always drawn to the macabre dear Doctor. It's what makes us feel alive".

On the Bridge, Captain Iley watched on the view screen as the ship smoothly approached one of the Orbital City docking stations. He kept flicking his eyes over to helm, it made him nervous that Jena was no longer sitting there. Since Tiberius could now run fully automatically the ship most of the Metroids had been put back into storage in Cargo Bay Two. They didn't even hire any extra hands like before either. Morath and Maddox still worked Engineering, Girha still worked Medbay and Alexei the Ops consul. But truth be told, not many of them had much to do now.

"We've been accepted for Bay Fifty, Captain Iley" updated Tiberius.

"Okay take us in" replied John "Helena, are we ready with the Cargo?"

Down in Cargo Bay One Helena supervised the few working Metroids as they finished stacking the huge crates of Romulan Ale ready for delivery.

"Yes Captain, Mr Ord has gone off to find the Doctor" she responded.

Mr Ord had suggested Helena help him when needed, he thought it would be good for the girl to learn everyday tasks whist on board.

"Okay. Come up to the bridge when the Dock crew finish unloading into the transport drop ship."

John stood to go down to the cargo bay himself.

"Helena is on her way up. So, what have you two planned while we're planet side?" he asked Alexei

"I'm getting all my Phaser collection out and then we're going to recalibrate them all"

"All sixty? Christ, you know how to show a kid a good time don't you" he mocked.

"Its seventy-two now actually. Also, I've a call to make to an old friend. That Jinn thing from a while back has been bugging me. Something about it was very familiar"

John nodded as he grabbed his jacked off his chair.

"Okay well try not to shoot yourself when I'm gone comrade" he joked.

"Especially since we have no Doctor on board since you're taking her with you"

Alexei was trying to tease John about taking Girha. He joked it was the Captains way of getting her alone.

"Hey, she asked to come. Besides Mr Ord will be there as well." retorted John

Alexei smailed as his Captain stood in the turbolift "Kinky" he winked.

Down on the Cargo bay the huge doors of the Consultation Class ship opened. John arrived to see the Dock workers entering to grab the fifty crates they had shipped. Girha and Mr Ord were already waiting.

"Are we all set?" John asked.

"Yes Captain. As soon as I get delivery signatures then payment will automatically be sent." replied Mr Ord.

"Good, we really need the money" sighed John.

"How is it we got this job again. I thought with Arlox dead we would be out of work?" asked Girha.

"You can thank Tiberius for that. He's transmitting with a Holo version of Arlox. Since he has full access to her logs he can pretend to be her" the Captain explained.

"Hopefully no one will want to meet her in the flesh" added Ord.

"Luckily with the National Guard still running an active investigation they are keeping all names top secret. I'm sure they still think Arlox was on the ship when it went up in smoke." John informed the two of them "Anyway enough of that. Are you looking forward to seeing the planet Girha?" asked John.

"Yes. I can't wait to see the underwater cities. I also heard they run tours of the abandoned cities on the surface" she beamed like a child on her first school trip.

"Nah I wouldn't bother. Between the constant plasma storms, earthquakes and volcano eruptions most of the surface cities are long gone. Nothing to see and far too much danger flying about down there" warned John.

The dock workers had moved the cargo to a dropship as Girha, John and Mr Ord followed them. Girha looked up to the ship as it stood against the far wall of the inner docks. It had no windows and looked to be covered head to toe in armour. Armour that looked like it had years of impact damage on it.

"We're going down in that?" she asked unsure.

"Best thing to travel on Direnos. If we took one of the shuttles down we wouldn't last five minutes"

They showed their pass to the security man and followed the cargo pallets aboard.

Inside it was sparse like an old cargo jet from centuries ago thought John. They sat along one side as the Ale was strapped down along the spine of the cargobay.

"Three minutes to drop" warned the internal speaker.

The rear doors clamped shut and main power roared on.

The ship lifted and free floated to the dock doors and passed through the force field to the empty of space. It immediately nosedived and shot at full speed to the planet below and crashed straight into the atmosphere.

Inside the passengers rattled gently around.

"A little lively the ride, isn't it?" joked Girha showing a little concern.

Mr Ord turned to her and smiled "just wait".

She looked confused as John laughed. clearly an in joke she figured.

The ship smashed hard to the right and she let out a scream.

Unbeknown to her a plasma strike had hit the ship as it free fell towards the ground.

A loud crack as it was struck again.

"What the hell..." yelled the panicked doctor.

She was more confused by the fact the rest of the passengers, scattered about didn't even respond.

"The planet's not happy we are here" smiled the Captain.

"Couldn't we have just Transported down?" she said with her eyes shut tight.

"Sure, as long as your happy with the possibility of a plasma strike cutting your transporter signal to bits. Regrettably drop ship is the only way to get down and up safely" answered John trying not to laugh at her. Outside the ships breaking thrusters slowed it right down as it approached the ocean. At the last minute its nose pitched up as it gracefully entered the water and dived down. Inside the three friends just sat back and relaxed as the drop ship made its way to one of the underwater docks.

"Can I ask a question?" asked Girha

John smiled and nodded back to her.

"What's the deal with Maddox?"

"Ah" laughed Mr Ord "I wondered when you would ask about him"

She laughed back a little.

"It's just he keeps out of the way and is a little how you would say... strange" she remarked.

"He was a top man back in the day at Starfleet. Ran some artificial intelligence lab or something. Alexei actually met him while serving on the Enterprise, caused a big ruck when he tried to take an android crewmember they had. I'm not sure what happened but the guy became obsessed with this android's brain and ended up building his own..."

"Tiberius?" interrupted the Doctor.

"Yup" answered John "We found him floating in Seven Sisters space in a stolen federation freighter he managed to steal when he went on the lamb"

"What's a Lamb? she asked confused

"He means he was on the run" injected Mr Ord.

John continued "Yeah so Arlox was going to have us rob him and leave him floating but he made us aware of the Metroid Cargo and how it could benefit the ship when attached to the Ai he stole. Saved Arlox a fortune so she went along with it".

"So, what made him a wanted man by the federation?" enquired Girha.

"No idea because he won't tell us. Plausible deniability I guess if Starfleet pull us over one day" John shrugged.

The loud noise of the ship docking filled the cavity they sat in.

They rose and walked towards the cargo door as it slid open and a small stream of sea water dripped down. In front of them was their contact, a Direnous male. Girha found herself blushing as he was very attractive, she was thankful that this species had no telepaths, or it would be very embarrassing. The Direnous was very well dressed and had a instant charm about him. He smiled as he walked to meet the trio. He reached his arm out to take Girha's hand

"My name is Curri and welcome to the city. I work for the Club you are delivering to" he smiled with a warmness that turned her spine to jelly.

"Erm... Hi" John said in an unsure manner as he watched Girha and Curri loose each other in each other's eyes "I'm the Captain of The Tiberius "

"Yes of course, Captain" smiled Curri.

John noticed that he hadn't let go of Girha's hand and that she didn't really seem to mind.

"Please. The three of you will follow me yes? We will conclude our transaction at the Club" he said as he turned to politely lead them to his personal transport.

A little later they were soaring across the habitat with the other traffic. Girha watched out the window at the brightly coloured city below them. Even though they we all under a massive dome structure it didn't feel like it. The huge lighting rig above the city shone just like a Sun. The only give away was if you squinted enough you could see sides and the ceiling of this massive structure.

"You seem impressed by our fair city Mrs..." Curri let his sentence hang, waiting for her response.

"Ms. And just call me Girha" she gently flirted back.

"This is one of over three thousand such structures dotted under the waters of our planets, ten miles wide." he replied

"Biggest structures in the known Alpha Quadrant some say" interrupted John in an attempt to wedge his way into their conversation.

Curri smiled back at the Captain "Indeed. Something my people are very proud of"

"I had read and saw vid-feed of the Great Fall on my trip when I first came to the Seven Sisters. It was fascinating and horrendous all rolled into one" Said the Doctor as if only her and Curri were present.

John screwed up his face and turned back around to find Mr Ord shooting him a playful smile.

"Don't start" whispered John.

The plush transport landed at the club in one of the upper-class districts of the city. They got out and entered the rear of the club as more men exited to get the crates.

Inside Curri walked around the side of the bar. Ord and Girha didn't really pick up on it but John noticed it straight away.

"Wow" he found himself saying out loud as he is looking around the large club.

The place was made to look like an Earth type club. He had looked up ones from the era of the 1920's after he had won a Holodeck weekend, years ago with its setting of early 20th Century Chicago.

"I'm glad you like it" said Curri "Theme clubs are very popular here. Of course, we are closed now but come back later when we are packed wall to wall tonight."

You could hear the pride in his tone as he continued to talk he began mixing a cocktail.

"I'm here as the Club's fix it man, I'm number two to the owner" he bragged

John tried not to roll his eyes as this was obviously all for the purpose of impressing Girha.

"Here" Curri said as he finished making his cocktail "Its called a New York"

Girha looked suitably impressed but John saw his moment to torpedo him.

"Manhattan"

"Sorry, what?"

"It's called a Manhattan not a New York. I've had them on Earth". John tried to not look smug but failed.

Curri gave a pained smile back.

"Anyway" he said as he slid the drink towards Girha "perhaps the lovely lady would like to try it".

He shot her the kind of smile he used on many a woman to great effect. The Doctor smiled and took sip, then a gulp and then she downed the rest.

"You should take your time Doctor" warned Mr Ord.

Before she could answer Curri interrupted and asked them to head to the upstairs office, since his men had now checked over the cargo it was time to pay.

The three of them followed him upstairs when he transferred payment.

Mr Ord looked over at the Doctor, who was stood quietly with a sultry look on her face and a sloping grin. She looked weird and not at all herself, but he just wondered if it was a Betazoid thing.

Tiberius sent signal back to John's communicator that it was accepted.

As Curri ushered them out he gently grabbed Girha's arm. He spoke to her as if they were the only two beings in the world at that point.

"You should stay for a while" he smiled.

John and Mr Ord give each other a look

"Sorry, but I'm afraid we need..." began the Captain but he was cut short by Girha

"I'd love to" she purred

Both of the crewmen looked shocked as a smug Curri gave them a smile and a wink.

Then the door closed, John and Ord found themselves alone on the street.

"Well" sighed John "We've got provisions to order. Come on"

"We're not thinking of leaving her, here are we?" asked Mr Ord.

"She's a big girl. We'll come back once we finish our orders" replied the Captain dejected as they walked off.

It only took the two men ninety minutes to place their orders for the food stock and parts to be delivered to The Tiberius. They had signalled Alexei from a restaurant on their way back to pick up Girha to let him know to expect the delivery as they now walked up to the Club back door and knocked.

They waited a few seconds and knocked again.

Finally, a large Gorn in an Earth style tuxedo opened the door. Straight away the guys could tell he wasn't hospitable.

"Erm Hello friend, we're here to pick up our Crewmate. She's in the company of your boss Curri" smiled Mr Ord

The Gorn said something sharply back in its native tongue. Mr Ord wasn't sure what it said but by its tone it wasn't friendly. As he stood thinking of what else to say he watched in surprise as John moved quickly forward and brought his knee up into the giant Gorn's crotch. The creature moaned and bent over, allowing the Captain to grab its head and force it into the reinforced doorframe.

"What was it he said?" he asked as he followed his Captain into the rear room.

"You don't want to know. But it concerned our mothers and how we're not wanted here" answered John as he searched the unconscious Gorn for a Phaser to no avail.

"Come on" he said as he left the alien and moved into the Club with Mr Ord in toe.

"Perhaps I should get the authorities, Captain? he said nervously.

The two men entered the main club area to find Curri stood with six security men pointing Phasers at them as if they were waiting for them.

Ord leaned into his Captain as whispered "Should I get the authorities now sir?"

Both men raised their hands.

"Where is she?" John asked sternly

"Attacking my staff, are you?" replied Curri with a dominant look.

"I can attack some more if you want?"

Curri dropped his smile into a scowl "I'd rather you didn't"

"Where's the Doctor?" asked Mr Ord moving a little forward

"She's having fun with me" laughed Curri playing up to his men.

John didn't see the funny side of Curri's laughing.

"I want my Doctor back, So chop, chop. there's a good man"

John didn't even try to hide his anger in his voice.

Curri reciprocated the same way.

"I'm looking for a reason to have you shot you little human prick. Test me, I dare you"

John scanned his eyes over the other guys in the room. There was no way he could take them out without having his insides blasted to his outsides.

"I'm not asking again" John snapped.

"I simply don't care" smiled Curri "You forced your way into my club and assaulted one of my men. What are you going to do, get the Law?"

"Oh no" John dropped his hands and slowly walked over to the man, he didn't drop his death stare once "I'm not one for the Law. I'm more of a do it yourself kind of guy"

The two men stared each other down until Curri snapped and laid a powerful headbutt on the Captain.

The next thing he felt was the smell of the trash around him. His head pounded like a jack hammer as he wobbly got to his legs. Mr Ord lay face down near him in another trash pile.

"Christ, Ord are you okay?" he muttered unable to get his words out properly.

He was relieved to hear his friend moan and roll onto his back. Ord's face had taking quite a beating.

"What the hell happened?" Asked John as he got Ord up on his feet.

"After you were knocked out his men set about me. They seemed to prefer their fists to their Phasers" said the Bolian quietly.

John was enraged. Mr Ord was a soft and kind man, he could tell that the beating had broken his spirit.

"What now Captain?"

"We're going to war my Friend. We're getting our Doctor back as well" replied the Captain through angrily gritted teeth.

He tapped on his wrist communicator "Tiberius? Get Alexei on the line as well"

The bleep confirmation let him know both were there.

"What's up?" Asked Alexei.

"The Doctor's been kidnapped. Tiberius, I need you to look thought Arlox's files and see if there is any black market Phaser sellers in the city. Alexei, I want you on the next dropship down"

"Why don't I just bring weapons with me?" Asked Alexei who from his breathing was now running it seemed.

"City security would have you in a second. Same with Transporting them down, any illegal and successful transports are tracked" the Captain replied.

"I have a location for you Captain" added the AI.

Twenty minutes later, John was handing over payment to a well-dressed Direnosian out of the back of a transport. Alexei called through on his communicator.

"John I'm set up across the club"

"We're on our way" he responded.

John, Mr Ord and Alexei met up across the street in a cafe. The Captain passed his Operation's man a spare Phaser under the table on the sly.

"This is a Direnosian weapon" Alexei said as he sneaked a look "These things don't have a stun setting"

"I know" said the Captain with a dark determined look in his eye.

The three men got up and walked across the street.

John turned to see if Mr Ord was okay. The man looked like he was about to be sick.

"You okay?" he asked

"I...I don't know if I can kill, Captain" he stuttered

"Don't worry about it, just aim for legs and arms. They'll live" smiled Alexei as he tried to calm his friend. Mr Ord gave a nervous smile back.

"Tiberius are we set" John asked into his communicator.

"Wait I'm hacking now" came the reply "Okay doors are unlocked".

John and his team rocked through the main club doors and found themselves in the main foyer. Inside were two of the security detail from earlier who had held them at gun point. Seeing the Phasers in their hands they both went to draw on the crewmen.

John reacted first hitting the nearest one square in the chest and killing him. The second got a shot off and just missed the Captain as Alexei a few seconds later took that kill.

The three of them moved into the main dance and dining area. Alarms were now kicking off as the internal sensors picked up the Phaser fire.

From their left, through the double doors that lead into the kitchen came the massive Gorn from before. Resting in his hands was a disruptor shotgun. He fired off three shots into their direction that missed but blew apart the decor behind them as they dove for cover.

Suddenly two more guards appeared to their twelve o'clock position.

Alexei and John tried to put down fire and only managed to hit one guard. The shotgun fire was keeping their heads down too much as the Gorn successfully suppressed them.

 _We need to move_ thought John as the fire closed into them. There was no way he or Alexei could take that Gorn out without being hit.

"ORD, SHOOT THAT BASTARD!" yelled the Captain.

Mr Ord looked terrified, but he rolled onto his back and to his right-hand side. He let off three quick succession shots with only the last hitting the Gorn's right leg.

As it screamed and buckled it allowed John the opportunity to jump up and get it with a head shot. The other guard was caught off guard moving to new cover and Alexei made easy work of him.

John picked himself off his feet and ran to the staircase that ran up on side and around the curved room towards Curri's Office which looked down upon the dance floor. Alexei skidded across the floor on his knees and with one ease of movement scooped up the dead Gorn's disruptor.

"Alexei..."Yelled John as he sprinted up the stairs "...Check the back. Mr Ord you're with me".

The Captain made it to the office door and looked back to check Ord was following him. He was, he could see the scared but determined face on the guy running to catch up. I really need to give that guy a hug he thought to himself about Mr Ord who was many things but none of them was a man of violent action. His attention was brought back to the office door the noise of crashing wood and glass.

Curri had launched himself through the door in an attempt to take John and his men by surprise.

It worked. John dropped his Phaser as Curri tackled him over the banister as the two men fell the distance to the floor below.

They came to a crash together.

John hurt like hell, but he knew he had to move quickly and he managed to beat his enemy to his feet. A quick kick of his left foot attempted to meet his attacker's jaw but instead Curri managed to catch it, twist it and using John's own weight against him he managed to flip the Captain away from him.

John scrambled quickly to his feet in time to see Curri sending him a round house kick straight to his face. John smacked against the back wall under the staircase Mr Ord was still on. Curri bobbed back and forth with his hands up ready to fight.

"My dear Captain, you've picked the wrong man. I didn't get to where I am today wi..." but Curri's monologue was cut short. A Phaser beam from above had struck him directly on top of the head and cracked it in two covering John in blood and brains.

The Captain sheepishly looked up and around the upper lever blocking his view to see Mr Ord still stood with his Phaser pointed to wear Curri had once been. The Bolian had a look in his eye. Not the one of fear and duty the Captain had seen since entering the club, no this was different. One of anger and justice having been done.

"You better come up here" He said to his Captain below him "And get Alexei to find a first aid kit."

Up in the office Mr Ord showed John what he had found, Girha was slumped across a plush sofa half undressed. Her underwear was pulled down to her ankles, she was alive but drugged.

John choking down the need to cry as he ordered Mr Ord to dress her correctly as Alexei ran into the room to join them.

"Vultures" said the Russian in an anger fuelled tone.

The men didn't say anything more until they had reached a safe area away from the Club. The alarm would have now pulled in the local law enforcement and possibly any National Guard in the area. Girha was now awake after Alexi shot her with a hyperspray. She was sitting on box in a quiet alley a few blocks away.

"What happened?" she muttered still half drugged.

"We think you've been slipped something" began the Captain.

"It was in that drink he gave me. I could tell straight away but its like my brain wouldn't let me say anything" she added

"Do you remember anything after that?" asked Alexei softly

"No... no its all a mist really. God, I hurt so much" she began to quietly sob

John pulled Mr Ord to one side.

"Get her and Alexei to the port. I want you back on Tiberius as soon as possible"

"Captain, what do we tell her?" asked Ord in a hushed tone.

He thought for a minute. He wished there was another mature female member of the crew that could speak to her. That kind of news was maybe best not coming from a man. He'd never experienced this before and didn't know what to do.

"Get her home. I'll tell her when I'm back" he finally answered.

"Where are you going" asked the confused Mr Ord.

The Captain didn't answer, he just turned and walked back.

The doors of sickbay slipped open. Sitting on one of the benches sat the Doctor. Nursey was circling her with a medical tri-corder making some final scans.

"Hey" he said softly.

He gave her a smile to show her it was safe now, all he wanted was to hug her. No person should go through what she had.

She looked up at him like her head weighed a ton. He knew she knew.

"I picked it up from Ord and Alexei, you forget I'm Batazoid. The scans confirmed what he did to me as I was drugged" she answered as if she had read John's mind.

"He's dead. We killed him" He choked down that lump in his throat again.

"Where were you just now?" she asked trying not to cry again, she wanted to be strong. Not for her Captain but for herself.

"That Club. The alarm wasn't wired to the local law. Means only one thing in my book"

"What did you do?"

"I burnt it to the ground"

Girha got off the bench and walked towards him.

They just stood looking at each other.


	6. S1 EP6 'DEATH' PART 1

The collision alarm filled the bridge.

"Alexei?" yelled John as he exited Arlox's ready room.

he watched as his Ops man flicked through he consul next to the Helm. Looking over his shoulder was his daughter Helena.

"Its a ship coming up on our six" she yelled over the noise.

"Tiberius ..." responded John but before he finished his sentence the ships AI answered him.

"Correcting course"

Tiberius was at warp itself doing only Warp Six due to its unstable cargo. On the main view screen, they saw a Federation ship pass by them at high warp like it hadn't even seen them.

"Was that an Akira Class?" asked Alexei looking at his Captain.

"Hell, of a damn rush whoever it was. It's like its sensors weren't responding. It should have seen us a mile off" he responded.

"No sensors at Warp 9. Suicidal or what?" said the Russian.

The alarm finally cut out since they were now out of danger. Tiberius 's voice filled the bridge.

"I've plotted the Federation's ship route. Its heading straight for En Ghast III"

"Well when we get there remind me to find that Feddy Captain and punch him" joked John as he took his Captains seat and flicked on the internal communications.

"Mr Ord are you there?"

the reply came back through clearly on the speakers.

"Yes Captain"

"How's our super safe cargo?"

Down in Cargo Bay Two Mr Ord stood as he watched the Doctor beside him running a tri-corder over the huge canisters packed into the bay.

"Still no leaks so we're safe so far" she shouted out.

"Remind me again why we're transporting this. It's hardly going to be good for our health if it breaches its containers" added Mr Ord

"Money" replied the Captain back on the bridge "Huge mountains of money"

"Indeed" sighed the Bolian.

John switch the channel on his chairs interface.

"Maddox are you there?"

"Captain" came the reply. Maddox Maddox was sat in engineering going over his formulas with Tiberius.

"Are you sure your containment field is going to be ready?" asked the Captain

"Ready and safe" came the answer

"Good, because you're coming with me when we deliver it" smirked John

"wait... what?" asked Maddox nervously

John didn't answer and instead just ended the link. He gave himself a little chuckle as he could imagine Maddox's now panicked expression.

Alexei's consul flashed with an incoming hale. He checked the caller ID.

"John I need to take this" he swung to face his Captain.

"Sure. Use Arlox's office" responded John with a smile.

Alexei took his seat and hit the answer button. Up flashed a smiling Vulcan lady in a Starfleet uniform. Well as much as a Vulcan could smile.

"Greetings. I hope you are keeping well?" she opened.

"I'm just fine, Tuvaq" grinned Alexei "How's life in Starfleet Intelligence?"

"Sometimes I wonder if that is an oxymoron"

"A joke from a Vulcan?" mocked the Russian.

Tuvaq give a small smile and nodded her head at the screen.

"I've not heard from you since our time on the Enterprise Alexei. What can I do for you?"

"Straight down to business. That's what I like about you Vulcans" he grinned.

John turned to see Alexei exit the ready room twenty minutes later.

"Everything Okay?" he asked

"Yes and No" came the reply "You remember how I said that Jinn thing sounded familiar?"

Alexei went on to tell John that during his time on the Enterprise there was gossip regarding a mission his then Captain had them on. Talk was that Star Fleet was compromised and that Captain Picard and the number one, Ryker had to even kill a few Admirals. Of course, no one could confirm it and it was all hushed up from the official logs. He went on to say that part of the gossip was from a nurse that worked sick bay that had seen scans of a small bug like creature they had found on board, dead.

"Sounds like the Jinn, doesn't it?" said John

"That's what I thought. Plus, it kinda fits with the story Arlox told us" added Alexei.

"Tiberius I assume you're listening?" said the Captain in a semi raised voice.

"Obviously" came the dead pan reply.

"Good, have a look through Arlox's files and any database you can. Something this size can't be 100% hushed up" he turned back to Alexei "and what do we do with this information?"

"Well if we find something we have to let the authorities know, don't we? I mean if they almost took starfleet then imagine the hassle in this system. Plus they wanted The Tiberius for a reason and I'd like to know why" informed Alexei

John quietly nodded in agreement.

It took them a further several hours to reach the Berlenghast settlement on En Ghast III. Tiberius positioned himself in orbit directly above one of the smaller agricultural and farming sectors on the planet some two hundred miles below him.

John stepped onto the Transport pad with Maddox by his side.

"Are we sure about this?" He asked.

"Yes, as long as we transport them one at a time. The fields on each will hold just fine" replied the scientist.

Moments later they found themselves transported to the pre-arranged location. It was an old and large barn that was bare on the inside.

This is no place to store these kind of chemicals John thought to himself and he looked about.

"Hello " came a voice from behind them. Both men turned to see a Berlengian old man walk up to them. He creeped John out as he seemed to be devoid of any kind of facial emotion as he talked.

"Where is the merchandise?" he asked

"On the ship" replied John smiling "Where's the payment?"

The old man clicked a communicator on his chest. From behind him came a second Berlengian dragging two bags full of what John hoped was his biggest payday yet.

"The Captain stepped forward and opened them both, once satisfied he nodded to Maddox to start the Transport.

"Where is it you want the delivery exactly?" Maddox asked the old man.

"Right in here"

Maddox looked about confused.

"Really, it doesn't seem quite the right place to store such a chemical"

The old man looked at him with again no expression and repeated

"Right in here"

John shot Maddox a look as if to say stop dicking about and just do it. Maddox smiled and hit his communicator.

"Maddox to Mr Ord. Begin the transport"

One at a time the canisters began to beam down into place within the barn. John knew it would take a few minutes to complete so he ordered for Tiberius to beam up the payment bags while he waited for the delivery to be completed. He watched as Maddox scanned each one to make sure its cargo was still safe inside. John decided to help out and took out his own tri-corder. Its screen flashed with an update, so he hit 'accept'. It took a few seconds to update and then flashed what it was. Tiberius had sent an sensor update to all the hand pieces to search for Jinn energy scans just like the one they found back on the ship months ago when the Doctor first came on board.

Out of curiosity he activated it.

Immediately it began to beep wildly.

Confused he checked its head up display to find the old man and his bag guy where flashing as Jinn. It got worse when he noticed that the readings where showing everyone outside in the village where also showing scans of Jinn presence. The only ones who weren't were Maddox and himself.

Back on The Tiberius, Morath sat at his favourite consul and sang some old Klingon war songs to himself as loud as his big voice could muster. He was sitting making his final calibrations to the upgraded sensor array he had recently fitted to the ship. He stopped as he noticed a usual reading

"Can't be" he muttered to himself.

Alexei was still on the bridge when he responded to Morath's communication

"Yellow Dragon takeaway, how can I help?" he joked as he answered.

"Now is not the time to Joke, Human" Morath responded "I'm sending something to your HUD"

Alexei turned to see the Engineer had patched him to the sensor feed.

In front of him he could see a CGI representation of the horizon to their left showing the arch of the planet and in the centre was what could be described as 'dead space'. The image looked like an empty bubble with a small shaft heading down to the surface.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked

"Indeed, that's a cloak" came the answer

On the surface John was beginning to get worried. He had re-checked the sensor readings and they were showing everyone in the farming village was implanted with a Jinn. He calmly and subtly reached into his jacket and activated his hidden Phaser but didn't draw it just yet.

He attempted to casually walk over to Maddox who was still scanning the incoming canisters.

"Hey" he began "Did you see the update for your Tri-Corder?"

"Yes" replied Maddox, seemingly annoyed at the interruption "I've not clicked it, why?"

"Do it... Now" The Captain said trying to not give the game away.

Maddox looked confused for a moment but did as he was told.

It took a few moments for John to see the expression change on Maddox who shot him a look as his face went white.

"Please tell me your tri-corder isn't flashing blue dots everywhere" asked the Captain

"I'm afraid it is" whispered Maddox.

"Balls" John sighed "Okay we need to go. and I mean now"

"We'll have to get out of the Barn. We're at the point all these Canisters may affect human transport."

"Okay. Follow me"

John waved at the old man and smiled.

"Only a few to come and then we're done. We're just going to step out for a bit"

The two men didn't even give the old man time to respond before they were out of the main door and into the street. It was there they came face to face with a land transport. Worse than that it was a Cardasian Military transport.

John hit his communicator

"Emergency Beam out" he yelled.

Both him and Maddox where engulfed in the blue glow of an active transport.

Back on the Transport pad he hit his communicator again.

"Tiberius we need to leave... like ten minutes ago"

Both men jumped off and headed out into the hallway

"Captain" it was Alexei's voice "Get to engineering right now"

Both he and Maddox looked at each other.

"How is this getting worse now?"

They were met in Engineering buy Mr Ord, Alexei and Girha. Morath was sat at his consul still.

"The crew are aware of your tri-corder readings Captain" informed Tiberius as he walked in.

"Jinn?" exclaimed Alexei

"A whole bloody village of them" replied the Captain.

"It gets worse" added Alexei as he monitored to a viewscreen by them "Tiberius show them what you showed us"

"I ran the same scan as your tri-corder did. Look at this" The AI replied.

On the screen John watched with the others as he brought up the map of the Village they were just in. The whole place showed Jinn infected settlers.

"Is the whole planet like this?" asked John

"No, only here and one other place" Tiberius said as the image swung East to show the second location. John couldn't believe his eyes. It was the Cardasian Military base and it was overrun with Jinn. The stunned silence was broken buy the bellows of the ships Red Alert.

"Dad, you and the rest better get up here" it was Helena on the Bridge.

They entered the bridge and the first thing they heard was the automated voice coming through the hailing channel.

"This is the National Guard. All ships in orbit are to cut main engine and warp power and await instructions" repeated the voice over and over.

"Shut that off Helena" ordered the Captain.

She was sat at one of the terminals at the rear of the bridge looking concerned. On main view screen they could see a fleet of National Guard ships taking up position around the planet.

"I'm getting reports of this happening all over the Seven Sisters. Word had it that a Federation ship has been attacked and destroyed" updated Tiberius.

"Something has them spooked" John added

"This won't be to do with Arlox and the rescue cock-up will it?" asked Maddox

They all looked at each other for a second.

"Doubtful" boomed the Klingon "If that were the case we'd be in deadly combat with the Guard by now"

"Okay, take your stations. I want to know what's going on. Between this and the Jinn I'm sure to have a heart attack" half joked the Captain.

"If that's the case I better stay on the bridge" smiled Girha as she stood by his chair.

Morath sat himself down at the Engineering terminal while Maddox joined him. Alexei took up his normal spot and began doing sensor readings of the area.

"They have their weapons loaded and powered up Captain" he said without looking up "but they're not targeting anyone."

"I have something" shouted Helena "I'm putting it on main screen"

In front of them all flashed a news report and a released comment by the Nation Guard. They were talking about how a Federation ship was destroyed and all hands lost on the border of the Sisters and Federation.

The make of ship flashed up.

It was an Akira class.

"You're bloody kidding?" said John shocked "When was this attack?"

"The report says it was the ship went MIA twenty minutes before our run in with the same type" Alexei responded

"Hell of a coincidence" muttered John

"Balls to your coincidence" added Morath with a tone of mistrust "The whole thing sticks of a conspiracy. That or they have their times mixed up"

"Morath your analysis has finished" interrupted Tiberius "You're going to love this"

John shot the Klingon a glance as if telepathically asking for a sitrep.

Tiberius threw up the results on the main screen.

There in front of them was the same CGI enhanced image of the cloaked bubble in orbit above the military base.

"What's this?" asked John

"That Captain is a remote cloaking device. The shaft you see there is the sub space cloak coming straight up from the Cardasian base on the surface and hiding something in orbit" Morath explained.

"And?" asked Girha

"And this" added Tiberius "I've used some sub space harmonics to get a basic shape of what they are hiding"

"If this is what I think it is..." John said standing

It was.

On the screen they could now see the basic shape of an Akira Class starship. The same ship the Federation had claimed was blown to bits, the same ship that had almost run over them hours before.

"Can the Guard see this?" asked John eventually.

"Doubtful. It's an old harmonic. Maybe over a hundred-year-old design. Works just fine but if you're not looking for it..." Morath managed to say before getting cut off.

"And how did we find it then?" enquired Maddox.

"Pure luck, boy. The sensor calibration before had main sensors turned right up for a second and I was looking at the right time. Otherwise I would have missed it."

John slumped back into his seat and let his mind stir around for a minute or two.

"Okay this is what we are doing" he finally began "Tiberius, find out what the National Guard are doing. Are we going to get boarded and when? Alexei give that Vulcan woman you know a call on the sly. Let her know what we've found and Morath, you and Maddox head back to engineering. See what you can pull from that cloaked data" John looked at them all as they acknowledged his orders.

He sat back in his chair.

"What are you thinking John?" asked Girha

"That I should have stayed in bed this morning".


	7. S1 EP7 'DEATH' PART 2

ohn checked the time on his wrist communicator. They had been stuck in orbit for six long hours now and the situation had not got any better.

"Alexei, talk to me bud" he asked his Russian crewman who was deep into looking at his consul data.

"That Cargo is bugging me. It's all too much of a coincidence" he replied quietly "I've been given the whole thing some thought. Now the Jinn wanted a ship, clearly a Federation ship since they tried to take The Tiberius and now this Akira Class, so why?"

"I don't know. They are trapped planet side I'd guess. It's not like we've seen any Cardasian ships making visits to that base over the years, or at least recently" replied John.

"Yes, but there is a ton of ships they could hire or hijack that would be easier than this. So why a Federation craft?" he parried back to his Captain.

John gave his chin a stroke as he had a think, his tuff stubble scratched against his fingers.

"They want to pretend to be a Feddy Boat?" John guessed.

"That's what I'm thinking. But stealing one raises questions and the second they drop that cloak the game us up, right?"

"Maybe it's something Starfleet ships have that others don't regardless of age or class type?" added Helena from the back of the Bridge.

"Yeah but what? The Akira is practically brand new in retrospect of this type" replied Alexei to his daughter

"I'm not that out of date if you don't mind Alexei" Tiberius 's voiced seemed huffy.

"No offence Tiberius, besides you have so many upgrades you're more hybrid than Federation these days" apologised Alexei.

"That's it" said john standing as if a light bulb went off in his brain "Get Morath to meet me in Engineering"

And with that he entered the Turbolift and headed out.

"So" said Alexei shrugging "He's not filling us in then?"

Down on the Engineering deck John found the Klingon with Maddox looking over a display of the cloaked ship.

"What's the one thing you can't change on this ship regardless of upgrades?" John bellowed to the two men. He didn't even wait for an answer. "Warp signatures" he said as he dramatically pointed to the warpcore behind him.

"Sorry, what?" said Maddox

"Regardless of what class ship you have the one thing that doesn't change is the warp signal of that species. Klingon, Vulcan Romulain or whoever all have their own signatures. What if that is what the Jinn want? A ship that can get them through Federation space without standing out."

Morath pulled a face that looked like the same light bulb had just shot bright in his own head.

"That actually may explain a few things Captain. That type of cloak only works at impulse of very low warp. Anything more than Warp 2 and you'd see the engine signature" Morath explained "Come look at this"

He motioned to the monitor both he and Maddox had been looking at when John first came in.

"We've been monitoring the cloaked ship. Now clearly the ship hasn't the apparatuses to do it itself, so something is emitting the beam from the base. Now watch this"

Morath motioned to Maddox to call up the next screen. John watched as data rotated around the bubble. Then he saw what Morath was hinting at. The base was sending a transporter signal up the cloaked beam into the Akira.

"Clever bastards" he said out loud.

"Indeed. Doing it this way they are hiding the transporter signal from the National Guard fleet" added Maddox.

"What are they transporting?" John asked as he looked at the men.

"We're not sure but we think it's another cloak engine" smiled the Klingon proudly at his find.

He clicked the sensor filter to show the bubble energy rotating in a clock wise direction, then he clicked it again to show a second rotation going in the opposite direction.

"Its weaker" the engineer explained "but growing in strength. My guess is that they transported the parts aboard then activated it slowly. If they just switched one off and the other on the ship will blip on everyone's sensors."

"How long until you think they are ready to ship out?" the Captain asked

"Twenty to Forty minutes we think" replied Maddox

The beep of the communicator signalled Girha was calling him.

"Yes, Doctor" he said clicking it.

"Our problems may have just got worse"

"Care to expand on that" he responded rolling his eyes as the disbelief that this could get any worse.

"I've reason to believe they are building Atogas" she said back

Tiberius who had been helping her with her investigation chirped in

"The Canisters we delivered are kind of harmless on their own, explosive yes. But mix them with the right solutions and chemicals and you have a Planet killer."

"Planet Killer?" It was Alexei from the bridge who had tuned in.

"Atogas is pumped into the atmosphere of a planet and it basically kills oxygen molecules. It suffocates a planet" Girha chipped in.

"What makes you think they have this? What we delivered could be used for a lot of things" asked John

"I declined a job last week, so we could take this one on. Chemical solutions that needed delivered to another settlement on this planet. These are used in Atogas Captain" added Tiberius

"Alexei run a scan of that settlement. Where are those canisters?" ordered the Captain.

There was a minute's silence as they waited for his answer.

"No longer there. My guess is that Cardasian transport you said you saw took them" replied Alexei.

John blew the air out of his lungs and let all the facts float around his head.

"So they have genocide in a bottle in a stolen, badly cloaked Federation ship? The question is, which planet is getting it. There is a load of Federation planets to choose from" he finally said to his crew.

"Earth is only an hour away at Warp 9" mused Maddox

"Well if you have a grudge against the Federation, that's the planet to hit" added Alexei.

John felt the weight on his shoulders almost triple.

"Alexei bud I really need you to get in touch with that contact of yours at Starfleet"

"No can-do Captain, the Council of Sisters is suppressing any comms out of the system. Plus, long range sensors is showing a build-up of Federation ships"

The silence that followed was broke by Mr Ord entering engineering with Girha.

"We can't go public with this Captain, I hope you realise that?" he said.

"How do you mean?" said a confused John back to him as they came close.

"We tell them what we found they won't believe us. At least not within the time we have left to track that cloaked ship when it leaves. Plus, if we hand over what we know it runs the chance that the National Guard may link us to Tiberius blowing up their ship. and Besides... we're part of this conspiracy" Mr Ord said looking around the crew present.

"He's right. We were the ones who delivered those canisters... illegally I may add" said Alexei from the bridge.

"Christ" muttered Maddox

John turned to face Morath and looked deadly seriously at him.

"The Akira has its shields down yes?" he asked

"At the moment, yes" came the reply.

"We can use Tiberius 's phasers and cripple its engines, that would de-cloak it for the National Guard to see" John said addressing his main engineer.

"I can't see the National Guard being happy shooting our main guns" explained the Klingon.

"tuff... I'll be damned if I'm going to let some planet die just to save our own backs. We are not those kinds of people are we" he said proudly to his crew.

They all looked at each other and reluctantly agreed.

"Erm, that may not be a choice" said Maddox as he looked back at the terminal "The beam from the planet has stopped. The cloak on the ship is fully engaged quicker than we predicted"

"I'm picking thrusters powering up" added Alexei.

John had to decide, and he had to make it quick.

"Alexei signal the Guard. Let them know. Screw it we'll just have to roll the dice on this"

The Akira jumped to warp away from the planet. As Alexei turned to follow his Captains orders he saw the helm light up. The Tiberius was now in hot pursuit.

"What the hell is going on?" yelled John angrily as he entered the bridge with Girha and Ord in tow.

"Its Tiberius, the Helm isn't responding. He's going after the Akira" yelled Alexei back and he slammed his frustrated fists against the helm terminal.

"Tiberius, power down" ordered the Captain.

No response.

"Tiberius we'll have the damn Guard shooting at us. Power Down" he ordered again

Still no response.

"It's too late, we've got two Guard Cruisers bearing down on us" warned Alexei

John moved to his consul to see the two ships at warp behind them trying to catch up with his ship. It was too little too late as within three minutes they'd be in Federation space and that was the real worry.

The Captain slammed his communicator.

"Maddox, Morath. Get Tiberius offline and get my ship back in our hands right now"

Down in engineering both men frantically tried to get access to any terminal they could. One by one the power was cut on each of them.

In the Cargo Bay, four of the Metroids powered up and began to move into the hallway and stopped by a security locker. It automatically opened and the first Metroid dipped his robotic hand in a reached for the first of the four phasers kept in there.

Back on the Bridge John was getting more bad news.

"He's locked us all out Captain" yelled Maddox over the noise of the Warp engine at full blast behind him in Engineering.

"Well eject the warp core then" suggested the Captain angrily

"Which part of 'locked us out' don't you get?" replied Morath into his own communicator.

John was about to say something he would regret when Alexei cut in to say that they were about to fire on the Akira class.

On the main screen John watched as the port and starboard phasers opened up on the shielding of the targeted craft.

At high warp the Akira began to dodge about as much as it could to try and escape the gun barrage, it in turn began firing its own phasers back at The Tiberius.

The ship ricked with each hit.

Helena turned from her terminal and looked over at John

"Tiberius is rooting power for all unoccupied decks into the engines, the closer we get the bigger the hit we're taking."

John in turn looked back at Alexei who was white as a sheet. He was looking right at his daughter with fear in his eyes. John realised that Alexei actually thought they were going to die and he was going to see his daughter go with him. He was never a father, but he could imagine the anguish his Russian friend was going through right now.

"Morath" the Captain said into his communicator "Take a phaser and shoot Tiberius's brain terminal. Just kill the bastard"

There was no answer, John wondered if the AI had now deleted the comms.

He had no idea that the reason the Klingon didn't answer was because he had just been hit by a phaser blast to the back.

Maddox recoiled in terror as he watched Morath hit the ground motionless. In front of him was one of the Metroids with its phaser raised.

He dropped to his knees and begged out loud to his creation to not kill him.

Again, Tiberius didn't reply.

The Metroid fired.

The two ships ducked and dodged each other as they exchanged fire. The Akira kept its course for Earth as back on the Bridge John searched his mind in a panic for a solution that just wouldn't come.

Alexei looked down at his consul and saw that the two Guard Cruisers had broken off their chase as they were stopped by some Federation ships, a third ship was now on an intercept course for them from the scans he could tell it was a Sovereign Class.

"Captain we have a ship heading..." but before he could finish the ship rocked with a huge explosion.

It seemed that the Jinn had worked out how to use the aft torpedoes on the Akira.

John picked himself off the deck and yelled over the noise of power relays blowing and alarms bellowing.

"Alexei get yourself and Helena to an escape pod. I'm going for the rest of the crew. We need to abandon ship. This damn AI is going to get us all killed" he yelled.

A second torpedo struck the front left quarter of the ship and seriously damaged what would have been the living section of any paying passengers.

Tiberius buckled but kept its pursuit.

Alexei turned back to his consul in time to see that Tiberius was re-writing the firing solution code of the weapons.

"What the hell is he doing?" said Alexei out loud.

John had staggered over to look.

"He's planning on an infinity burst" replied john.

Alexei looked at him like he was talking gibberish

"Its a Hail-Mary tactic" explained john "A prolonged high energy burst until the phaser array just burns out".

They both looked up at the main screen to see both phaser banks pile into the Akira's shields at the same point. The loud pitch of the phasers filled the bridge and got higher and higher as the phasers reached their maximum potential.

"The idiots going to blow his only offensive weapons"

"No, wait look" replied John

they looked on as The Akira's aft shields dropped for a few seconds. It was all Tiberius needed as he quickly engaged his forward tractor beam and clamped onto the back of his target. Instead of applying thrusters to slow the Federation ship Tiberius changed the harmonics' so it pulled him in close.

"What the hell is he doing?" asked John confused by the tactic.

The ship then began to violently vibrate.

"He's cut main engines and transferring all power to the plasma couplings" responded Alexei " I don't understand it. But at least we're too close for the Jinn to get a positive torpedo lock on us"

"Screw it" replied John as he turned to head towards the turbo lift. His intention was to get the rest of the crew and bail out in a lifepod.

Helena was already next to the turbolift waiting. John watched in horror as the doors shushed open and a phaser beam came out and hit the girl in the back. She fell to the floor, her face twisted in pain.

"HELENA!" Screamed her dad in a panic. Alexei sprinted towards the body of his daughter but was stopped in his tracks by the Metroid stepping out onto the Bridge with its phaser still raised. Alexei still had his own phaser on him tucked into the back of his trousers. He should have drawn it and blasted the robot.

But he didn't.

In shock he just looked down at his Helena laying at the shooter's metal feet.

John was already moving forward as Alexei was knocked backwards to the floor by the shot. Everything was happening in slow motion for John.

He didn't think.

Just reacted.

He was at full speed as he leaped over his friend's body and as he landed he dropped his shoulder. The Metroid couldn't swing his phaser quick enough to meet the Captain and was greeted by the human tackling it hard in the waist area like a line backer.

John felt his shoulder buckle as he slammed into the bulk of metal and heavy plastic of the robotic crewman. But still it was enough to lift it up off its feet and onto his right shoulder.

Het let out a loud scream of frustration and adrenaline as he carried the thing and slammed it back into the turbolift. On top of it he tried to clamber back off but with its free hand it grabbed his face.

he felt the hot, horrifying burst of phaser fire hit him in the gut.

It was game over for him.

Blackness.

They some light.

His eyes slowly opened, and he became aware of muffled voices around him.

Johh was alive.

He sat up in slight pain to find himself in a sickbay. He was on a ship, that much was clear. The Starfleet nurse smiled at him and explained what his diagnoses was.

But the Captain wasn't listening, he was too busy smiling.

All around the large sickbay either lying or sitting on the benches were his crew. All alive and looking well.

Alexei was sat with his arm around Helena as he chatted and laughed with a tall man with a beard. By his uniform and insignia he was a Commander on this ship. Alexei and he talked as if they knew each other quite well.

Mr Ord was laid out on the med-bench having an exam. Morath was clearly telling the head doctor in an animated way of what happened to him, the poor women was having a hell of a time trying to get him to sit down.

Then there was Girha.

She was sat with another nurse looking through a first aid box and clearing asking a million and one questions about the latest Federation medical techniques.

Phasers on stun he thought to himself at least Tiberius wasn't trying to murder them

"Captain?" the voice was firm and authority behind him.

John turned to find the ship's Captain stood behind him, he was a tall, bald, well-built man for his age. Beside him was a human looking fella but with pale skin.

John recognised the Android from one of the images Maddox had once shown him.

"We're on the Enterprise?" he asked,

"Indeed" replied the Captain "How are you feeling?"

John just nodded back at him and remained quiet.

"This is Lutenant Commander Data and I am Captain Jean Luc Picard" he replied

"How did we get here?" John asked. He was unsure how this was going to go, he was waiting for the security team to enter and cart them all off.

"Perhaps I could answer that" said the android "You were beamed aboard by your ships AI, Tiberius"

John found himself instantly warming to this Data. There was something about him he just liked straight away.

Then suddenly it was like John's brain snapped back into first gear.

"Captain, the ship we were chasing..."

Picard raised his hand to stop him mid-sentence.

"We're aware of the incident and what you were trying at achieve, The USS Thunderchild didn't make it to Earth thanks to the efforts of your crew."

John was confused, clearly these guys didn't know that it was all down to Tiberius.

"What happened to my ship?" John asked

Data passed him a data pad.

"This is the visual readings of both ships in the moments after Tiberius transported you all off" explained Data.

John watched a video on a loop of The Tiberius tractored to the back of the Akira ship, John watched as the blue of the warp engines flashed faster and brighter until it engulfed the screen. As it dissipated both ships were now floating around in normal space, clearly with power dead from both.

"He engaged a Thurloin Radiation burst it seems" added Picard

"As you may know Thurloin Radiation can be caused by a powerful feedback in the warp engines. Its dangerous enough to destroy anything biological and electronic within the affected areas" added Data

"That's how he took them out and fried the Atogas?" John said to himself "How did we end up aboard your ship then. I assumed the AI had gone mad as we were trying to stop him"

"Your AI hailed us as we approached in a pursuit pattern. In the data packet he laid out everything your crew knew about these 'Jinn' and advised a medical emergency. Then you were all transported here with Phaser stun injures." explained Picard

"The idiot stunned us as it was quicker than persuading us off the ship, which we would have never done if we knew he was going to kill himself." replied John to the two starfleet officers.

"There is one other thing Captain" Picard switched the screen on the datapad to show energy readings "Moments before the radiation blast we picked up a faint warp signature from what seemed to be a Klingon shuttle craft but because of the burst our sensors lost it. Your manifest shows a Klingon shuttle kept on board"

"It could be Maddox. I notice he's not amongst us" said John

"The fugitive Bruce Maddox was indeed with you during Transport. Because of a warrant for his arrest he is currently in our Brigg" Data responded

"Oh, is he?" John said trying to sound surprised "A fugitive you say? he never mentioned it."

The Captain seemed to buy it and they were all moved to quarters for their return trip back to the Seven Sisters. Within the hour the Enterprise had transported them back to the border and they waited to board a Mau Transport.

The crew had not spoken to each other on the flagship for fear of being overheard. Only now on their way to Mau T'prek VI did they discuss what had happened.

"I just don't get it. Why would Tiberius sacrifice himself? asked Alexei

"Who the hell knows" replied John "I've given up how that damn AI thought things through"

"What do you think they'll do with Maddox? Helena asked concerned. The group shrugged at her. The bigger concern now was what they were going to do since they lost their ship and with it access to Arlox's files.

"Captain, did Starfleet ask you about my shuttle?" Morath queried

"Yes they did. Why?" John answered back"No idea who took it. But they left at warp so It would of done huge damage to the Cargo bay. Maybe an autopilot malfunction?"

The doors slid open to reveal Girha on the other side.

"Things are getting bad to worse out there" said said

"How do you mean?" John enquired

"I've been talking to the ships doctor, a nice Mau as it happens, and she was telling me the Sisters is in uproar. It seems the Federation sent in a fleet unannounced and laid waste to the Cardasian base and neighbouring farming settlement. Destroyed it from orbit"

"Sounds like something the cowardly Federation would do" huffed the fat Klingon

"I can't see the Council of Sisters liking that very much" added Alexei.

Tensions have always been high between the two and this would not have helped any.

"So what do we do know?" asked Helena finally

John sighed and looked around the group. Well I guess we'll have to go our separate ways. We'll never find a ship that will take us all on and we sure as hell can't afford a new ship of our own"

"End of an era" muttered Alexei quietly

Six months had passed since the incident. Four months since he'd last kept in touch with his past crew mates. The Seven Sisters had become a tinder box because of the Federations attack all those months ago. There was even talk of War. Unable to get a job on another ship John was not demoted to working the kitchens of some greasy spoon of a cafe on MauT'prek VI's capital city.

It was late and near the end of his shift, he pulled out the large rubbish bag from the rear doors and moved them over to the main outside bins. Every part of his body hurt and he yanked over the weight in the hope that the bag wouldn't split and he's have to spend his evening once again scraping food off the floor. He heaved the bag into the bin and felt a streaking pain hit his back and knees.

He had to take a minute.

The Gurlam disease had matured to the point there was constant pain somewhere in his body, another six months and his body would begin shutting down altogether.

"Hello, Captain" said a voice down the dark alleyway.

He recognised it straightaway, it was a voice he'd been trying to remember since he last saw her. A voice he was scared he would forget over time along with her face.

Yet there she was lit by the security light over a door down the alley.

She looked beautiful.

"Hello" he smiled back "I thought you were on Vulcan?"

He suddenly felt ashamed, like he wanted to back away into the shadows.

His dirty kitchen clothes, his broken body he figured didn't show him at his best.

Girha stood looking at her former Captain, as a Batazoid she sensed everything that was rushing through his mind as he looked at her. She didn't let on as that would be unfair to him.

"I was then I got a better offer" she answered, smiling and moving towards him.

"Oh, yeah better offers are always good" he laughed as if to mask his own pathetic position, God knows what she thinks of me looking like this he thought to himself.

"Are you hungry? I can get the chief to knock something up?" he offered as he motioned to the rear doors.

"We can eat on the ship" she smiled.

He wondered when it was when he first fell in love with her. Was it that first day she came aboard or was it later? Maybe it was best he was a damn wimp and never told her.

"So, what are you serving on now?"

"The Tiberius" she smiled.

John looked confused and before he could ask her what she meant he was bathed in an orange glow of a transporter beam.

He found himself facing the back of a room of some sort. He turned to find two surprises, the first was that it was the bridge of a Klingon ship, but it was the second surprise was what made the smile beam across his face.

In front of him was Girha, Morath, Mr Ord, Alexei and Helena all giving him a warm smile.

"I... I don't understand" stuttered a confused John.

Helena ran over to him and gave him a big hug. John's back hurt but he didn't care.

"We've missed you" she beamed.

John machined gunned out the questions "Who's ship is this? How come you're all together? I thought you were spread all over the Alpha quadrant?"

Alexei laughed "Oh you'll like this one"

"Also, finally a good strong Klingon Bird of Prey to work on" joked Morath.

Okay. I'm going to ask again, how?" demanded John playfully.

The main screen flicked on and there looking back at him was that same large, rainbow coloured lizard man he first saw back on the Xindi secret settlement almost a year ago.

"Tiberius?" he asked shocked.

The strange character on the viewscreen smiled back.

"Take your Captain's seat" he requested "We're getting the band back together".


	8. S2 EP1 'ALL NEW'

Alexei rushed through the door of the Medbay to find the doctor covered in blood and slumped in her seat looked wrecked. On the bed next to her was John who was still out after the emergency.

"Is…is he dead?" Alexei asked quietly.

Helena, who had followed when the alarms went off, stayed half hidden by the open door. Tears poured down her face.

The emergency claxon stopped as Tiberius answered.

"No, she saved him again. He's stable"

The ships AI threw up all sorts of info on the monitor by the bed but Alexei couldn't make head or tail of it all.

Girha rose from her seat and wiped her eyes. The Adrenaline was wearing off now as she tried to control her shakes.

"It's his illness… it's started to break down his internal organs now. Massive internal bleeding but I managed to stop it" she took a breath "first time I've done that"

Alexei put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"You did well, Doctor. You saved him… again"

"For now, she has" added Tiberius through the speaker system "but he'll rupture again, and we need to find a solution quickly".

Alexei looked at Girha who was down building a good bit of anger in her face.

"No" she barked "I told you, I'd have no part in that"

"He's dying Girha; you know we have no option. This body is failing him" pleaded the Russian.

The doctor looked down, what they had discussed the previous week was unethical as hell but the only real solution they had.

"Fine, Tiberius set course for that Mariposa Colony you told us of" she finally said in a strained agreement.

"Engaging cloak and setting underway" it replied.

Seven hours later and they were well out of the relative safety of the Seven Sisters system and were heading deep into Federation Territory. John had come around from his emergency surgery and was lying in med bay still under the watchful eye of the Klingon made medical scanners in there. He was leafing through an Intel report Tiberius had sent him.

"Tiberius are you there, pal?" John asked the thin air around him.

"Hey Captain" it replied in its now Ferengi accent.

"Still with that awful accent, are you?" John mocked

"It is fitting, John. You know with Arlox and what not"

John smiled as he remembered their old boss. Then he remembered what an old boot she was, and the smile stopped.

"This Intel is saying we got out of the Sisters undetected…" John was cut off by the AI.

"Yes, and we even flew past a Federation patrol. They didn't even see us. The cloak is working perfectly; Morath has done an excellent job calibrating it"

John nodded as he listened to the voice filling the room.

"Yeah it better be because if the Federation or Romulans find out we're using a cloak in the Alpha quadrant we're for the high jump. By the way is there any more news about the Federation invasion?" asked the Captain

"Tensions are higher than ever. The Council of Sisters is bulking up the National Guard fleet along the border" Tiberius said in a matter of fact way.

Since their encounter with the Jinn a while back which lead to the Federation coming into Sister's space and the orbital bombing the old Cardasian Base and surrounding settlements all hell had broken loose in the Seven Sisters System.

The council saw it as a proclamation of war and since has been building its fleet.

The embargos the Federation had on the system for the last ten years had led to enough bad feeling against them as it was and this latest matter simply pushed them over the edge.

War was coming, and the feeling was that the Federation would stomp right over the Sister unopposed. Not that the Council saw it that way. It worried John, not for their business but because he knew the civilian loss of life would be very high. The Federation liked to present itself as a peaceful, scientific endeavour but with the recent war with the Dominion and Cardasian those high up in Star Fleet had got quite the taste for conflict.

On the Bridge Mr Ord sat trying to contact the Mariposa settlement where a number of black market cloning was known to go on. Helena was sat next to him, shifting through the local net on the consul next to him.

"What are we looking at today then, child?" he asks without looking up from his screen.

Helen grunted a response like bored teenagers tend to do.

"Nothing" she sighed finally "I'm just looking up at the latest Federation stuff along the border"

Mr Ord stopped and turned his seat towards her.

"Pretty depressing stuff. How are you feeling about the Captain?"

She didn't answer at first or even make eye contact. Ord knew that it was heavy on her mind and he knew that for a girl in her depressed state it was important to talk things out.

"It good to talk about this stuff you know, I can see you're hurting" he pushed gently.

"It's just…" she began "…John's been around and in my life for a lot of years now. He's looked out for me and helped Dad loads. Its bringing up feelings of when my other dad died".

Helen said it quietly and tried her best to not cry again. She had shed many a tear at the thought of John dying, her dad had already lost his husband, she didn't want him to lose his best friend as well.

"If this works we'll be able to save him, Hell he'll be stronger than every" the Bolian smiled

"Hell?"

"Yes, well I've picked up some human terms from your dad and our Captain I think" he laughed.

Girha could hear the shouting as she walked the corridor to sickbay.

"You bloody didn't?" yelled John

"I did. It's done now" countered, Alexei now in sickbay with his Captain

"You should never have done that you daft Russian prat" john said coughing painfully and quite annoyed.

"The money raised will pay for your clone treatment. It's my Collection, it's my choice" argued the Ops Man.

They both turned and noticed Girha enter and walk towards them smiling.

"Is there a reason you are upsetting my patient, Alexei" she asked already knowing what this was all about.

"Did you know this fool sold his phaser collection?" Exclaimed John to the doctor as if explaining that Alexei had sold his own head.

"I did, we need the money and your worth it" she replied like a school teacher scolding a young pupil.

John gave in and let a thankful smile grow towards his friend, he knew what he had done was a wonderful thing and what it meant to Alexei to have sold his pride and joys.

The captain leaned over and hugged his mate.

"I owe you" he whispered into his ear.

"When you two are quite finished" interrupted Tiberius "Mr Ord has contacted the colony and they've accepted our request. John we'll have you good as new in no time"

"Do you think they'll be able to make my bum a little perkier in this new model" The captain joked.

A further twelve hours down the line and the Bird of Prey was sat on the surface of the settlement. Their middle man for the deal had already met them and Girha, John and Alexei had made their way to the doctor's office in a shady part of the main city on the surface,

"So, do we have the payment?" asked one of three doctors sat in front of them.

Girha looked unhappy about the whole thing but held her tongue, she wanted to save John more than anyone but to her this cloning was an abomination.

"Yes, we have it ready to electronically transfer" replied the Captain.

"Good" said the main doctor, a tall human looking fella with a large white bushy beard "But you can keep it".

"Sorry, what?" came a stunned Alexei

"We need to change the deal. We have a number of items that need delivered to these co-ordinates" he slid a data pad over for john to pick up. "I'm not going to lie, its downright illegal but I'm assuming since you're sitting looking for a black market clone you're not one to judge the law, yes?" he smiled

John recognised the accent on the guy, southern UK from what he could make out

"What's the cargo?" Asked John suspiciously

"None of your business is what. These are the terms. Your fellas fly the cargo to the location and we start on your procedure. Actually, I'll do one better, we start now while they are away and by the time they are back you'll be done" bargained the Doc.

"It's a three-day round flight looking at this" added Alexei, having a read through the datapad.

"Must be important to you is it?" John said shifting in his seat painfully.

"Enough that if we find your crew have failed on their part we'll terminate the clone and your good self in the process. Let's just say we need it their smartish and it's a nice coincidence that folk in your field of transportation have turned up"

The charm was dripping off the doctor, Girha had instantly hated him.

"Deal" remarked John and he stood to shake the guy's hand.

"I'm staying here with him" snapped Girha "I'm his personal Doctor and…"

"Fine, fine" waved the Doc with a smile.

John turned and nodded to Alexei.

"Get the ship prepped and tell Mr Ord to sort the Cargo. You're in charge"

"Magic" replied Alexei with a grin "My own ship. I'm going to sell it and buy back my Phaser collection".

It had only taken an hour for them to load up the cargo and Alexei was watching Mr Ord beam on the last of it. He had received word from Girha that the procedure had started so they were okay to get underway. He looked over at Ord as the large man read the information from each scan of the boxes as they transported in.

"You look worried, I take it our cargo is on the illegal side?" the acting captain asked.

"When is it not these days, Alexei" stated Mr Ord back "and yes, it is in fact illegal goods. Squarn Explosives to be precise".

"We've done worse, so why the long face?"

Mr Ord looked at him and shot an expression which let the Russian know he had chewed off more than he knew.

"Look at the delivery address" Ord pointed to the screen.

On the screen where the co-ordinates for a section of space known simply as The Badlands and this area was known for two things. Firstly, was its bloody conflicts between the Maquis and the Cardassian and secondly it was known for its habit of making ships disappear without a trace with the USS Voyager being its most recent victim in the last handful of years.

"If I go missing or get shot at I'm going to be very annoyed" interjected Tiberius.

"Don't worry" said Alexei "What's the worst that can happen?"

As the Bird of Prey rocked back and forth under phaser fire from the three Marquis runabouts as they navigated the huge plasma cloud Alexei looked over from his captain's chair at a unimpressed Mr Ord giving him a ' _told you so_ ' look form his seat on the bridge.

"Don't even start with me" responded Alexei in a monotone tone as he clicked down the tactical periscope used by the Klingon captains during a fire fight. In its display it showed the Russian all of the stats and details of not only his own ship, but also the three small ships trying to kill them.

"Tiberius, you have two of them coming from two o'clock high…" but Alexei was cut off by the AI

"Funnily enough I am linked into one hundred percent of the ships system so I'm more than aware of where the swines are. Now shut up and let me fly" it snapped.

Tiberius banked hard and managed to get one of the Marquis ships in his sights as it skirted between the ongoing plasma storms around them. He locked on his wing tip disruptors and fired a short burst. It hit true as he watched the shields on the runabout fail and the ship tumble into a nearby plasma funnel.

"One down" Tiberius quipped.

The intercom system came alive with the excited voice of Morath

"Are we in a fight? It sounds like a fight"

"Rear Shields at forty percent" warned Helena form her post at the helm.

"I know, I know. Hang on" Tiberius replied as he shot a torpedo from its forward tubes towards a sizable plasma funnel ahead of them.

"You know they are behind us, right?" yelled Alexei in confusion.

Tiberius didn't respond, instead on the main screen he showed the torpedo catch the orbit of the funnel and spin right back towards them.

"Well how's that any better?" asked the acting captain to himself.

The Bird of Prey shifted a little as the torpedo flew under its belly and hit one of the following

runabouts. The screen showed it explode into small bits and the last ship peeled off its attack and began to run for home.

Alexei collapsed in his chair unbelieving what he had just witnessed.

"Was there something wrong with the REAR torpedo tubes?" Alexei barked at the screen.

"What? Have you never heard of a trick shot?" Tiberius's voice was smug.

"Guys we may have a problem. I'm tracking that last ship and its heading for our co-ordinates. I think our delivery target just tried to kill us" said Helena, looking up from her consol.

"Okay" Alexei said peering over at Mr Ord "now you can start judging".


	9. S2 EP2 'DONE DEAL'

The Bird of Prey just hung there facing the Maquis mother ship at the far edge of the plasma corridor. On the screen was one of the ranking officers of the Marquis addressing Tiberius and the Crew.

"I apologise, our scout ships can be very… well… idiotic. Plus, with you flying a Klingon ship you can see why they would attack without warning" smiled the officer.

Alexei just glared back at him.

"We have your cargo" he said blankly "Do you want it or are you going to start shooting again?"

"Of course, I'll send the co-ordinates now. I'll also inform our supplier of your delivery yes? Confirm all is well, yes?" he kept smiling like a fake customer service worker.

Alexei looked over at his daughter who nodded that she had the co-ordinates and was transporting the goods"

"You'll have it shortly and we'll be on our way" said the Russian as he glanced back at the main screen.

"Oh, just so you know" added the officer still smiling. "You destroyed two of our ships full of brothers. We see you again and we'll kill you"

The fake smile dropped and for the first time Alexei could see the true nature of the officer.

"Oh, you won't see us" replied Alexei dryly and with that the comms were cut and the bird of prey cloaked.

"I'm setting course for John and the Doctor" Tiberius informed them as he engaged his thrusters.

Back at what was passing as a cloning institute the Doctor stood in one of the labs looking down at a giant semi-transparent fleshy pod laid on the flat surface in front of her. Inside she could make out the shadowy movement of a human shaped body inside. It looked the size of an adult now but only twelve hours earlier it was the size of a child, and six hours before that, a baby. She didn't agree with this kind of science, but she couldn't help but feel impressed by it all. She turned away and walked into the room down the hall where they had John's body. A Nurse was checking his vitals. His skull was sawed open and his brain exposed, the small robot at the head of the bed moved its tiny multiple arms about and prodded at the brain to make sure all was well.

She looked down at him in his medical induced coma and hoped so strongly that he would be okay.

"What do you do with the original body?" she asked the nurse

"Dispose of it, love. There is no point in him seeing it. We find that our customers get too shocked when they look down at their old carcass" she replied.

Girha wondered if it would be best to bury it, give it one of those human style funerals. Her guess was that John would not care.

"The transfer of data from our guys head into the new body is going well" the nurse added.

"How exactly is that done again"? inquired Girha

"We use a special medical transporter. Basically, we take the whole brain and pop it in the new host. The computer takes multiple brain scans to ensure its all put back just perfectly. Your friend here basically will remember falling asleep on the table then waking in the new body".

The Doctor gave the nurse a smile and moved back off to the waiting room to use the comm unit.

Back on Tiberius and the ship was under warp and still cloaked. Inside the crew sit nervously in the bridge watching the view screen. The screen shows a Nova Class Federation ship seemingly following them at warp.

"They know we're here" said Mr Ord aloud.

"Rubbish" interjected Morath "the cloak is working perfectly".

"Then when are they sitting in a tactical pursuit course above and behind us?" asked Alexei as he stared into his periscope above the captain's chair.

Morath gave it some deep thought. "Maybe they think its following a subspace rip. The older cloak models used to give false sensor readings under certain circumstances".

"Yes, but sub space rips don't normally shoot along at warp 7" added Mr Ord

"Warp 7.85 to be exact" said Tiberius

"And why does that small detail matter?" came the reply from the Bolian.

"It's the small details that stop you from warping through a planet" countered the ship.

Alexei slapped the handles together against the periscope and watched it disappear back into the ceiling.

"Tell you what's funny?" he began "some science officer is defiantly scratching their head at this and wondering if he's sensors are off".

Helena was sat at the helm as she noticed the warp speed begin to drop.

"Erm, Tiberius…"

The Ai interrupted before she could finish her sentence

"I'm trying something".

The Bird of Pray dropped to warp 7, then warp 6 and finally steadied at warp 5. The Federation ship followed their every move. It was obvious they had been made and it wouldn't be long till the Nova Class crew would work out what they were following.

"Okay, any suggestions?" Tiberius asked

"de-cloak and engage in a fight to the death" Helena joked.

"I agree" Morath added with deadly Klingon seriousness.

"I think she was kidding Morath" Alexei paused for a second and then blew the air out of

his cheeks "okay so really the only option is to run like hell"

"That style of Federation ship can easily keep pace with us and follow us all the way back to the Cloning planet" warned Tiberius.

"Indeed, but there is one place they won't go given the current political situation" replied the stand in captain.

The plan had worked. The federation ship had stopped short of the border of Seven Sisters Space. Tiberius had found an asteroid to hide behind as he uncloaked.

Helena sat looking at all the latest tactical data coming off the grid. The whole border had Starfleet icons moving up and down it. Like a hungry wolf pacing being a kill.

Mr Ord returned from the replicator with his hot Raktajino.

"Are we to assume it's not safe to leave soon?"

Morath had returned to his engine room with Helena in tow. Leaving just Ord and Alexei on the bridge.

"No idea Mr Ord. They would have sent out the data to Starfleet it will take them no time at all to work out it's a Bird of Prey. We're trapped here for now"

"That leaves us in a bit of a pickle with picking up the good Doctor and the Captain" replied Mr Ord

"I know. But I may have a cunning plan" smiled the Russian.

Girha was worried. The crew weren't replying to her comm messages and they were close to being almost a day over due. She had spoken to the head doctor and he had confirmed a little skirmish with the Marquis but also that the Tiberius had warped away safely.

She sat in the basic but passible recovery room alongside Johns body. A blue square bit of material was now covering his whole face and head. The final transport of his brain had been done an hour ago, but she wasn't allowed to see the clone. So, she just sat looking at his old corpse.

 _It was weird_ she thought _I haven't been a ships doctor long as I've done some amazing surgery on that body in the last few weeks._ She allowed herself a little smile _._ She planned to call her parents once she was back on the Tiberius and tell them all about the frontier medicine she had come out to chase all those many months ago.

"I'm sorry but we're not a hotel" began the doctor. "Payment was made and as you can see the procedure was tip top. So, in short, bugger off" he smiled.

John and Girha sat opposite with slightly bemused looks on their faces. The crew was now a full seventy-two hours overdue and still not responding to hails.

John was looking great in his new body and had responded well to the procedure Girha had said. But now they had a new problem. The facility wanted them out as they had over stayed their welcome.

Ten minutes later and they were out in the front street where they were met with the Hussle and bustle and the settlement in full swing. Make shift buildings and structures that were clearly meant to be temporary many years ago still stand in full use. The eight story buildings laid out a maze in front of them, the air thick with the burning of liquid fuels and chemicals drifting across from the slums patched across the settlement.

"Okay, any ideas?" enquired the doctor.

"Two options really. We've no money and our friends aren't returning our calls. So, we can steal a ship or live on the streets for the rest of our lives" John joked "which would be a shame if we did option two considering I have this rocking new body".

"It's just a shame they messed up the face" added Girha

"Wait… what's the matter with my face?"

"It looks the same as your old one"

And with a smile on her face she walked off. John followed her.

"Where to dear Doctor?"

"Spaceport I guess"

The Berleni sneered at Alexei. "Piss off"

"Come on Tony don't be like that". Pleaded Alexei

"My name isn't Tony you idiotic Human"

"True but I can never pronounce any Berleni names and Tony is as close as I can get"

"For someone wanting a favour Human you aren't being very nice".

Alexei smiled back at the reptilian.

"Look I need that shuttle. I must get John back. You like John yes?"

"As humans go… he's not a total anus" replied the alien.

"Come one"

"It will cost you"

"fine" sighed the Russian "what's the damage?"

Helena and Mr Ord watched form a distance as they leaned against Morath shuttle. It was a cool night on En Ghast VII as they watched Alexei walk back over to them with a little shocked and worried look on his face.

"And?" started Mr Ord

"Yeah I've got a lend of the long-range shuttle. I'm taking it now" Alexei replied.

"Why the long face then?" Ord smiled "this is good news"

"Erm… I'd rather not say in front of my daughter"

And with that he kissed her goodbye and they made their way back aboard the Klingon's shuttle.

A few hours of walking and they found what they were looking for. The Space Port was less of a Port and more of a collection randomly parked ships and shuttles of all shapes and sizes. The place was rammed with people rushing about looking for supplies or to book voyage on a long-range shuttle.

"It's a mess in here" snuffed Ghira

"Good" smiled John "it means it will be easier to boost one of the shuttles".

"I'm not sure I'm happy about stealing someone's lively hood, Captain"

"Look. We'll bring it back as soon as we find the Tiberius".

John noticed a lovely little classic long range Andorian Round-About. He signalled to the Doctor to follow behind him as he slipped through the crowds towards the aging ship.

The coast was clear as John and Girha slipped into the back of the shuttle and john went to work trying to hack the lock.

Alexei sat in the Navigator's chair on the shuttle as the large Berleni sat in the helm chair. Tony had a very happy grin on his face while Alexei sported a pleasantly surprised expression.

"Not Bad" grinned Tony

"yeah… better than I thought" replied the Russian.

The console began to beep as they dropped from Warp.

"We're here" said Alexei as he began tapping into the screen to begin his scans.

Inside the spacious shuttle John and the Doctor stood with their hands over their heads. Before them were two angry looking Andorians holding their phasers at the two intruders.

"You couldn't have looked through the screen to see if it was empty first?" whispered an annoyed Girha

"Hey, it's not my fault, I'm only three days old" whispered John back to the doctor.

"Always with the stealing you Humans" said the lead Andorian.

"Pfft, I'm not human" snapped Girha

"It's true, she's not" added John "She's a Betazoid. So be careful because she can destroy you just using her mind".

The blue aliens looked at each other and then back to their captors.

"We know what Betazoids are capable of you idiot" said the smaller Andorian.

The doctor rolled her eyes and slowly shook her head at John.

"Okay. You've got me their lads. So, listen I'm hoping you can help us…"

"You tried to steal our ship, human".

"Granted. Yes. But that's because we thought it was empty" smirked John.

The large Andorian walked up to the captain and jammed his phaser into john's ribs.

"Let's go for a walk Human" came the snarl.

Alexia was now alone in the Space Port with only a tri-corder to hand. He scanned left and right trying to lock onto his crewmates life signs. He pushed his way through the crowds trying to work out how he was meant to spot them in all of this.

John was in front of the group with the larger Andorian walking close behind him with the phaser jammed into his back as clandestine as possible. Behind them the smaller Andorian was doing the same to Girha. The Captain ran as many scenarios through his mind as he could of how he was going to get out of this predicament without getting himself or the doctor killed. As he pondered this he heard the screech of a phaser fire and the crowd shouting and running for cover.

John span round to find his captor laying stunned on the floor with the little Andorian doing the same.

"You okay?" he asked Girha confused.

"well… yeah, but…"

"Hello"! yelled Alexei as he ran to approach them. John noticed the Russian was holstering his phaser. "Come on you two, I have Tony waiting in a shuttle. We need to go".


End file.
